The Misadventures of Sam Winchester: Dance Inside
by The Girl With The Serpent Skin
Summary: OCcentric.Sam&Dean rescue a girl,jailbait to be specific,that was kidnapped by demons.They unearth a kidnapping ring&start to realize she's not completely normal,in a mental ward kind of way&maybe in a supernatural way too.
1. Chapter 1

**Aurora, Illinois**

The lights were flickering on a suburban side street. Inside of a tall white house, two daughters were sleeping in their own rooms. Their parents were sleeping quietly in the master bedroom. There was a fat Persian cat sleeping with one of the daughters, the younger one. The lights in the house began to flicker, though none of it's sleeping occupants noticed. Celeste, the cat, shot straight up out of her sleep and started hissing, though no one could hear her. The dead bolt on the back door of the house squeaked as it turned, leaving the door unlocked. Three leather-clad intruders quietly stepped in the house. One of them was a wavy-trussed brunette woman, probably in her early twenties, and the other two were very attractive men, one had slicked his black hair back and the other had shaggy blonde hair. The three of them split off from each other. The woman headed for the youngest daughter's room. Celeste was hissing and spitting and it finally awoke the dark haired girl.

Lexi was small, people often wondered if she even broke 5 foot tall. Even for her height she was small, her waist looked like it could be snapped in half by just about anyone. Despite her tiny waist, she was still very well endowed. Her breasts were full and perky. Her hips were smaller, her hipbones poked out. She had pin straight black hair that, despite being layered, came down to the small of her back. She opened her eyes when she heard Celeste hissing. Her grey gaze looked almost silver when it caught the little light that seeped into her room from the moon. She went to pet Celeste who immediately sprang up and bolted into the closet. Lexi thought she heard footsteps.

"Mom?" She tossed her covers back and got out of bed. She had a dark blue tank top on and pair of white boy short panties. She slowly made her way to her bedroom door. She was sure she heard footsteps this time.

"Cassie? Is that you?" She called for her sister, who was 18 and only 2 years older than Lexi herself. "Cassie?" Lexi slowly opened her bedroom door and screamed.

* * *

**Somewhere in Wisconsin**

"There's a whole mess of demonic omens down in Illinois, in Aurora," Sam said as he perused the newspaper.

"Aurora? That's only a few hours from here, want to go check it out?" Dean asked his brother without taking his eyes off the road.

"It's the closest lead we have. And I mean, there's a MESS of omens. They've been surrounding the area for a couple weeks and now they've moved in heavy," Sam elaborated.

"Anything strange going on in Aurora?" Dean asked.

"Not that I can find. Just the omens," Sam sighed.

"Well it's worth a look," Dean acquiesced.

* * *

When Lexi awoke she was somewhere dark and dank. Her face hurt, it felt bruised and swollen. She tried to feel for the swollen spots but she realized her hands were bound behind her. She was tied up to a chair.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god," Lexi muttered. The last thing she remembered was opening her door. There had been a woman there. A woman she had never seen before. Something had been off about her, other than the fact that she had just broken in to Lexi's house, but she couldn't remember what. And then nothing. Darkness. Someone had probably knocked her out.

"Mom? Dad? CASSIE?" She called out to the darkness; the only response was the echo of her own voice.

Lexi started crying. Had she really just been kidnapped? For what? Sure, her parents had a good amount of money, but there were plenty of people in her neighborhood with even more money. Did they take Cassie too? From now on, whenever Celeste thought something was wrong, Lexi would listen. Her brain was jumbled and confused. Was anyone ever going to come down here? What if she had to go to the bathroom? Her stomach rumbled; she hadn't eaten in awhile. Was someone going to feed her? Lexi didn't really care, that was the last thing on her list of priorities.

Footsteps.

Someone was descending stairs somewhere nearby. Someone was coming down for her.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty," It was the brunette woman, but she seemed different somehow. Lexi chalked it up to a traumatized memory.

"Sorry I had to bruise that pretty face," The woman continued when Lexi didn't respond. That was about when she realized she was still wearing the clothes she had been sleeping in. Her captor was running her fingers up and down Lexi's bare thighs and she whimpered.

"Ooh, that was cute, do that again," The woman whispered in Lexi's ear, but she didn't make a peep.

"Oh fine, play hard to get. You're lucky he wants you in one piece or I'd make you whine," The woman chuckled and flicked her tongue over Lexi's earlobe. "He'll be here soon to inspect you."

As soon as the woman left the room, Lexi started crying and she couldn't stop. Some psycho nymphomaniacs or something like that had kidnapped her. For the first time in her life, Lexi was terrified of what her first sexual encounter would be. Her tears clinked as they hit the ground, turning into small shining crystals the moment they fell from her cheeks.

* * *

The next time Lexi awoke it was because of a searing sensation in her arm. She screamed as she opened her eyes. There was a man she had never seen before crouched next to her, in one hand he had a knife, in the other he carried an apple. There was blood on the knife and her forearm was dripping warm red fluid.

"Good morning Alexandria," The sinister man said. He had long silver hair and when he stood she realized he was about 6 foot tall. He started to cut a slice out of the apple.

"How do you know my name?" She asked, noting that she was _still_ in her pajamas. How long had she been down here already?

"Oh Lexi, I know just about everything there is to know about you," He grinned and popped the slice of apple in his mouth.

"Why are you doing this? Is it money you want? Please, just let me go, I'll get you money. I swear I won't tell anyone anything," Lexi sobbed her crystal tears.

"Oh sweetheart, it's got nothing to do with money. It's all about you honey," He smiled and caressed her cheek with the flat side of the blade of his knife.

"Me? I'm nothing… no one special. Please, let me go, please," She pleaded.

The man bent down and picked up a few of the small crystals that were falling from her tear-streaked face, "Oh I think you're plenty special, Lexi."

"I-I-I don't know. Is there a bathroom? Please?" Lexi begged him.

"No dear, I think, until you start cooperating, you'll just have to stay tied up," He smiled.

"Cooperate? What? What do you want me to do?" She asked, confused.

"Work for us of course," He grinned, cutting another slice out of the apple.

"What, what do you want me to do?" Lexi asked. Clearly, she wasn't being held for ransom.

"We just want you to do as I say, without question," He smiled and dangled the slice of apple in front of her, "Are you hungry?"

"No. Tell me what to do, please just untie me!" Lexi screamed.

"Alright, but if you try anything," He waggled the knife in front of her face.

Lexi nodded, his point very clear.

"We have a little test set up for you, come," He said as he untied her. He looped his arm around her tiny waist and steered her into another dark room in this basement of god knew what. It took every fiber of her being not to rip out of his grasp.

"LEXI!" Her sister was in much the same situation that Lexi had found herself in. Cassie, the perfect beautiful bubbly sister, was tied to a chair in her pajamas. It was clear she had not been untied in however long the girls had been kept here. Her normally shining soft blonde curls were tangled and wild. Her face was bruised and swollen, as Lexi imagined hers was too. Her pink sleep shirt was torn near the neck and her white shorts were speckled with blood. Cassie's legs were cut; some wounds were scabbed over, some were fresh.

"What did you do to her? Let her go! If this is about me, let her go!" Lexi screamed. Her heart was pounding like thunder, her blood was pumping quickly, and her skin felt like it was on fire. She tried to calm herself down, if she tried anything, fuck what they'd do to her, what would they do to Cassie?

"Oh Lexi, I can't. You see, this is your test. I must be certain you will do everything I say. Obliterate her Lexi," The silver-haired man demanded.

"What? NO!" Lexi screamed.

"Oh Lexi, are you sure?" He took a bite of his apple before tossing it, mostly uneaten, into some dark corner.

"Fuck you! I won't hurt my sister!" Lexi yelled.

"Then I guess I will," The silver-haired man replied coolly before backhanding Lexi, sending her sprawling to the floor. The silver-haired man, wait, was he a man? His eyes had turned black as he strolled casually to Cassie. He slid his knife into the tear in Cassie's shirt and ripped it all the way down, exposing her torso.

"Lexi, please!" Cassie screamed, forcing Lexi to look back at her just as their captor plunged his knife straight into the oldest girl's chest and ripped it up to her throat.

* * *

Lexi awoke and she was tied up again. Her legs and chair were damp. How long had she been here now? When was the last time she'd even seen a bathroom? How long had it been since she'd eaten? She couldn't help but cry again, and again, and once more. Her sister was dead, and she hadn't done anything to stop it. God knew where her parents were. Whatever had kidnapped her was not human.

If Lexi had been a cruder girl she would have said that shit had hit the fan. But of course, it could only get worse.

One of them that had broken into her house, not that Lexi knew it because she hadn't seen either of them, had entered her holding cell, as she called it. He was grinning and his eyes were black. He was tall and he looked like, in his heyday, he had been very well built, but now his body was aging and getting flabby. Was it even his body? Lexi couldn't stop crying.

"Wh-Wh-What do you want from me? Please just let me go…" Lexi whimpered.

"Boss says I get to have fun with you, ya know, to persuade you to cooperate," He grinned. His accent was unfamiliar to her.

"Oh god please no…" Every muscle in Lexi's body tensed, but then she saw him pull a straight razor out of his pocket and she relaxed a little.

"It's almost a shame to mar that beautiful body you've got here," He grinned and crouched down next to her. "But at least it will be fun."

He slid the razor down her forearm. Lexi flinched a little, but didn't make a noise. He drew the blade back up her arm, making a parallel gash. Lexi bit her lip, the look on his face spoke of frustration. He wanted to hear her scream and plead but she wouldn't. Whoever was in charge here wanted her alive, so she didn't think this man, was he a man? would kill her.

"Oh come on, you won't even squeal for me?" He asked as he traced the razor down her inner thigh and back up her outer thigh. Her blood was dripping on to the floor and still she did not even whimper. He switched sides and started making horizontal gashes down her other arm, and he finally noticed the scars she already had.

"Oooooh, I see. You're one of those, you're enjoying this aren't you?" He smirked at her. He stunk like rotten eggs.

"N-N-no, but I'm not-not a pansy. I can take a little pain," She fixed her eyes on the ceiling and held her breath.

"Seems like you dish it out too," He said running his fingers over the scars on her wrists. He lifted her shirt up and saw scars across her stomach and on her hips. He chuckled and let her shirt fall back down.

"I think I'm gonna have to have a talk with the boss about this one," He said, shutting his razor and leaving her bleeding and alone in the darkness.

* * *

Lexi awoke wondering what hell she would be put through this time. She heard the sounds of struggle upstairs, screams and heavy thuds. Sounds of wood splintering, and then she heard gunshots. Four gunshots and then everything else went silent.

"Oh god oh god oh god," she whimpered. She heard the door open. "Oh god oh god oh god, please, just let me go."

"No need to be formal, you can just call me Dean," A male voice called from the shadows and Lexi snapped her mouth shut.

A very handsome man, maybe in his mid-twenties was coming towards her. He had short blonde hair and gorgeous green eyes. He was wearing a leather jacket and a dark green t-shirt. His jeans were torn and his black boots were scuffed. He had been wearing a very smug here-to-save-the-day grin until he saw Lexi tied up in the back of the room, covered in dried blood with a black and purple face.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" Dean asked as he rushed to her side.

He was followed closely by a tall, like gigantic, shaggy haired brunette man, probably only a few years younger than Dean. He had the most adorable hazel eyes and Lexi could not grasp just how tall he was. He was wearing a carhartt coat over a grey plaid button down that was open, revealing a black shirt with some band logo on it. Lexi was too out of it to figure out what band it was. His jeans were dark and looked much newer than Dean's, well, she assumed that was his real name.

"Please, just, don't hurt me anymore," Lexi begged trying to keep from crying.

"No, no we aren't going to hurt you," The tall one said.

"We're here to rescue you," Dean pulled out his switchblade.

"Oh for the love of god! There's nowhere else to cut!" She screamed.

"Calm down, please, we aren't going to hurt you," The tall one repeated.

Dean moved behind her with the switchblade and cut the bindings on her wrists off before cutting off the ropes tying her ankles to the chair. The tall one took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

"Can you walk?" The tall one asked.

Lexi tried to stand but her legs quavered and gave out beneath her, luckily the shaggy-haired man caught her. She didn't know when the last time she had stood up was, let alone the last time she had eaten. The world was spinning around her. "No," she whispered, her vision tunneled in as the tall one scooped her up and they started carrying her out. She was really leaving? She was afraid to get her hopes up, but she prayed they were taking her home… sort of.

"What's your name?" The tall one asked her.

"Lexi, who are you?" She asked, shutting her eyes.

"I'm Sam, and yeah, that's Dean. How long have you been here Lexi?" Sam asked her. She flinched when they got out into the sunlight; she hadn't seen light in days, well she assumed it had been days. It was too bright. She was thankful when Sam deposited her in the backseat of some old muscle car. She was too scattered to know what kind of car it was. Sam took off his over-shirt too and covered the lower half of her body with it.

"I, I'm not sure. Do you… Do you have any water?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course," Sam responded as Dean slid into the driver's seat and started the car. Sam handed Lexi a bottle of water and she downed the entire thing before falling asleep to the most beautiful sound she thought she had ever heard, Metallica.


	2. Chapter 2

**On the Road Again**

Lexi vaguely recalled short conversations when she woke up in the back seat of what she had come to realize was a '67 Impala.

"Dude, she's got to be in high school," someone had said.

"Doesn't mean she's not legal!"

Darkness again.

"Bobby's panic room,"

The next bit was muffled and she only caught a few words, "clothes," "size," and "I don't know."

Her consciousness faded in and out. Something was twined around her legs. She thanked god for the car's heater.

* * *

"Hey, Lexi," Someone's hand was on her calf, jostling her gently.

Her eyes felt like they were vacuum-sealed when she tried to open them. She felt around with her eyes closed and pulled whatever was wrapped around her legs off so she could move.

"Mm?" She yawned and stretched before attempting to open her eyes again, this time with a little success.

Of course that was about when she remembered she was in the backseat of a car with two gorgeous men and no pants. She hastily snatched up the shirt that had been tangled in her legs and covered herself back up.

"Look, I'm sorry but we can't take you home just yet, not till we know you're safe," Dean, the driver, said as Sam, the taller one, took his hand off her leg.

"So we figured we should stop and get you some clothes. What size do you want?" Sam asked her, his voice was gentle, like he was trying to soothe a wild animal.

"Um, extra-small? If they have bottoms in extra-extra-small that would be good," She closed her eyes and layback down but then she bolted up again, "And nothing pink please."

She closed her eyes and sprawled out in the back seat, but neither of the men was getting out of the car.

"Well?" She could tell it was Dean asking by his voice.

"What? One of us should stay here with her," Sam responded.

"Yeah, me," Dean responded matter-of-factly.

"What? Why? You'll just…" But Sam had either cut himself off or was speaking too low for Lexi to hear. Either way she wasn't too interested.

"Because Sammy, you're better at picking out girl's clothes," Dean laughed as he said this.

"If it's not too much trouble, could you grab some body wash too? Please? When you take me home I'll have my parents pay you back, I swear," Lexi's voice was pleading.

"Sure thing Lexi," Sam's voice had regained its calm tone as he got out of the car and headed into the supercenter.

Dean sighed and shut his baby off while Sam was in the store.

"So, I know this is going to sound pretty stupid, but are you okay?" Dean asked Lexi.

"Y-You don't sound stupid. I appreciate your concern, really. Physically I'm ok. I know I look bad, but really, I'm okay. But th-th-they," Lexi couldn't help but start to cry. She rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in Sam's coat so Dean wouldn't see her cry.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're allowed to be upset," Dean turned around, he wanted to put his hands on her shoulders and tell her everything was okay, but Sam was right, she couldn't be older than 16. Dean was treading some dangerous waters.

"They killed my sister!" Lexi screamed, her face still hidden in Sam's coat.

"Well, I don't know if this will help but, we killed them," Dean's voice was hoarse when he responded.

Lexi whimpered and wiped the tears off her face before looking up, meeting Dean's eyes in the mirror, "That does help… But… what were they? I… They were awful, they tortured me and my sister and my parents, what are they?"

"Ah, Lexi, I'm sorry I don't have a lot of answers, and the ones I do have, you may not want to hear…" Dean felt awful for the girl. She was so young and she seemed so innocent.

"Th-They tried to make me kill my sister, and when I wouldn't do it…" Lexi's voice cracked and she buried her face in Sam's coat again, small hard crystals pressed into her cheek.

"Lexi, I'm sorry, I'd give anything to have your whole family out of this…You were… You and your sister…" Dean started, but he stopped when Sam returned to the car.

"Here, I hope…Well I guess anything is better than what you've been wearing. Don't worry no pink, even the body wash is purple," Sam was trying to put a smile on the traumatized teenager's face, and it was sort of working.

"Thank you Sam," She took the bag from him. He had gotten her a black tank top with white stars around the bordering and the smallest pair of jeans he could find. He had managed to find a deep exfoliating white orchid body wash. Thanks to Jess he was well aware of exfoliation and he figured if he'd been kidnapped by demons for days, that's what he'd want. "Oh Sam, thank you it's perfect, really…"

"So, and if you don't want to talk right now that's fine," Sam started as Dean turned the key in his Impala and started pulling out of the parking lot. "But, do you remember what day it was when they took you?"

"Um," Lexi popped open the body wash and took a whiff of it, it smelled wonderful. But then, compared to her, anything would smell wonderful. She thought she might even have a dreadlock or two now. "Well it was in the middle of the night, just before Halloween. I think it was the 28th? Might have been after midnight so it could have been the 29th."

"Lexi, that was five days ago, today is November 2nd," Sam informed her.

"That would explain the smell," Dean mumbled; Sam and Lexi both stared at him in total shock for moment before Lexi broke into laughter.

"Oh gosh, I am sorry. I bet I do reek to high heaven," Lexi smiled. "So, um, forgive me for being wary, but outside of your names I don't know anything about you. So um, where are you taking me?"

"To Bobby's, he's got a panic room there," Dean answered.

"Um… okay, I know I'm clueless, could you elaborate for me, please?" Lexi asked nervously.

"Dean forgets sometimes, that nobody knows the things we know. Bobby is our friend he, he's like us. We hunt things, bad things, like the people, they weren't people, they were demons, like the people that kidnapped you. He has a room that demons won't be able to get in, you'll be safe there until we can figure out why they wanted you and if they're still after you," Sam explained.

"Oh, yeah, that sounds good. Thank you, I think. For you know, saving me and all. Just don't tie me up in a basement for days, okay?" Lexi yawned and closed her eyes, drifting back into darkness.

She registered that Dean said something, probably something smarmy, before sleep took over.

* * *

When Lexi woke up again she thought she was in a junkyard. She was surrounded by old beat up cars and trucks. She also noted she wasn't walking; she was being carried. Sam had wrapped her up in his coat and shirt before picking her up bridal style. She was struck, once again, by his ginormousness. Had she been any bigger or if he was any smaller this wouldn't have worked, but she was so tiny and he was so large that his clothes easily encased her.

"Where are we? I can walk if you don't want to carry me," Lexi whispered, her throat hurt, she was incredibly thirsty again.

"You haven't eaten in five days, and you're the size of a damn toddler, I don't mind carrying you," Sam said, half of him sounded worried, the other half sounded slightly amused.

"This is Bobby's place," Dean filled her in, "And this is Bobby."

An older man, somewhere in his forties, with a gruff beard and matching hair approached them. From what Lexi could see he had a trucker hat on and some kind of flannel shirt. When he spoke he had a Southern accent that Lexi thought was absolutely lovely.

"Really boys? Bringing another half conscious girl to my house? Ever heard of hotels?" Bobby chuckled, even Lexi was picking up on the sarcasm in his voice. He gave Dean a hug before turning to Lexi. "Pleasure to meet ya, I'm Bobby. I hear you're hiding from some demons?"

Lexi nodded, "Yeah, that's what these two told me. Do you think, umm, maybe I could use your shower? I brought my own body wash," Lexi said holding up her Wal-mart bag full of cleanliness.

Bobby laughed again, Lexi bumped Metallica down to the second most beautiful thing she'd ever heard; she had always loved Southern accents. "Of course you can. You like pancakes?"

"Ah, don't worry about that. I just want to shower and sleep," Lexi replied quietly.

"Yeah, real Sleeping Beauty, this one," Dean said with a smile.

The four of them made an odd group as the entered Bobby's backwoods house: Two gorgeous brothers, one half-conscious teenager, and a trucker with a mind sharp as a tack.

Dean and Bobby went into Bobby's demonic library to see if anything had been going on in Aurora lately. But mostly it was to give the poor half-clad teenager as much privacy as they could. Sam carried Lexi to the bathroom door.

"So there's towels in the closet in there and you've got body wash. I doubt Bobby will care if you use his shampoo," Sam was still holding her and his cheeks were a bit red. He was dreading putting her down, he'd have to face her pantslessness again.

"Do you think it'd be ok if I used his conditioner too?" Lexi asked politely.

Sam laughed, "I'm sure he won't mind," He set her down on her own two feet and turned around quickly.

"Thank you, you know, for everything," Lexi mumbled and scrambled into the bathroom quickly.

She grabbed a dark blue towel out of Bobby's linen closet. When she had first seen Bobby she had not expected a bathroom like this. It was spotless and well stocked. There were even candles, really, candles? on the counter. He had a nice smelling anti-bacterial soap next to the sink, even a spare toothbrush. Bobby was clearly unlike any single man she'd ever met. Maybe he had a wife?

It almost pained Lexi to toss her dirty clothes on the floor of Bobby's perfectly clean bathroom, but she was glad to be rid of them. She felt cleaner already. She cranked the water in the shower up as hot as it would go. When steam was pouring out of the shower she stepped in and suddenly wished she'd asked Sam to pick her up a razor too. She hadn't shaved in days.

She washed her hair three times before putting Bobby's cassia-scented conditioner in. She was convinced this was the best shower she could have ever asked for. This was as good as getting a pony for Christmas, she assumed. Her sister had gotten one…

Lexi snatched the body wash out of the shopping bag she had left on the floor in the bathroom. She reminded herself to thank Sam for getting exfoliating body wash, which kind of made her wonder if he was gay. Yes it was exactly what she wanted, but boys, _men_, she corrected herself, men should not know that. She lathered up and scrubbed herself down from top to bottom to top to bottom; in fact, she lost count of how many times she had cleaned herself. She scrubbed until her skin started feeling raw. Before she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair she stepped out of the shower and took another peak in the closet. She found an unopened pack of disposable razors.

"Sorry Bobby, I promise I'll replace it when I can," Lexi whispered before snatching a razor out of the package, as if someone might see her if she didn't do it quickly. She hopped back in the shower and lathered up again. She took at least another twenty minutes meticulously ridding herself of every unwanted hair she could find.

By the time Lexi finally stepped out of the shower she smelled like a springtime garden, the smeared makeup that had been all over her face was gone, as was the hair on her legs, and the water was running cold. She shivered as she wrapped her towel around her hair and picked up the jeans Sam had gotten her.

"Oh… darn it," She grumbled to herself. It just dawned on her that she didn't have a bra or any clean underwear. She shimmied into the jeans anyway and pulled the tank top down over her head. She sighed as she deposited her old dirty pajamas into the plastic bag. She debated just pitching them, but decided to ask Bobby if she could use his washing machine.

Lexi found the three men in what looked like Bobby's study. Boy was he full of surprises. Sam had a laptop out and Bobby and Dean were buried in books.

"Um Bobby, can, can I use your washing machine?" Lexi asked quietly.

"You're really going to wash those?" Dean asked.

"Well, I, I, umm, thank you Sam for the exfoliating soap, that was like a gift from God, really I appreciate it. But um we didn't get any, ah, underclothes, so I wanted to wash my pajamas," Lexi's lips and tongue tripped over her words.

Dean bit his tongue to keep from pointing out exactly how obvious it was that she didn't have anything on under her tank top. Some girls could get away without a bra; Lexi was too well off to be one of them. Dean slammed his eyes back down to his book.

"Sam, yer a damn idjit," Bobby chided.

"Yeah, I feel really dumb. Look, I know you're going to hate me for this but, I think we need to get you in Bobby's panic room, especially if one of us is going to leave," Sam said.

"Leave? What, no, that's okay," Lexi started.

"Nonsense," Bobby took out his wallet, "Sam, yer the girliest one, go get this poor thing some damn panties," He said, handing Sam some green bills.

"Yeah of course," Sam shoved the money in his back pocket.

"You two are freakin clueless," Dean said springing out of his chair. He grabbed a pad of post-it notes and a pencil, and handed them to Lexi. She looked up at him with her dewy grey eyes; she looked a little perplexed. "Write down your, ah, sizes for him."

"Oh, right," Lexi turned a brilliant shade of red as she scrawled her cup size and panty size down on the post-it note for Sam. Sam made a noise of almost surprise. Lexi turned to the nearest bookshelf and immediately buried herself in the first book she grabbed. She wasn't really interested in what it said but she was too embarrassed to stay in the room, but she felt rude just wandering around Bobby's house when he'd been so courteous.

"Come on sweetheart, let's get you downstairs ok?" Bobby said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Downstairs?" Lexi asked, fear in her voice.

"Yeah, that's where the panic room is," Bobby explained.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Bobby, but after the past few days, she didn't want to go in anyone's basement. "No, please, don't."

"I promise, you'll be safe down there. I'll get you some water and some food if you'd like. Maybe a book or something?" Bobby asked. He was doing his best to make her feel comfortable.

"I-I-I don't know," Lexi stuttered but she let Bobby lead her down the stairs to the basement.

It was dark and dank and far too familiar for her liking. There was a heavy iron vault door around the corner from the stairs. Lexi's heart was pounding out of her chest and her breathing was getting shallow. When Bobby let go of her to open the gigantic door she almost bolted up the stairs, but she didn't. She fought the urge to run upstairs and jump in Dean's lap and cling to him until they gave up on the whole locking-her-in-the-basement idea.

"Please don't make me go in there," Lexi whispered once Bobby had the door open.

"I'm sorry darlin'. I know you've been through hell lately, and the last place you want to be is holed up in another basement, but it really is the safest place for you. See these walls? They're made of iron and salt-blasted. Demons can't get past the iron and salt."

"And the freaky symbols?" She asked, her voice quivering.

"Those are Devil's Traps, just an extra precaution. Not that demon's could get in, but if, somehow, they did, they'd be stuck, powerless in those circles. I swear, you'll be all right in there. Even if I left the door wide open, no demon would be able to get to you," Bobby promised her.

"I… okay. I'll go. Do you have any…not freaky books I can read?" Lexi asked as she stepped precariously over the threshold of the panic room.

"I'll go see what I got. You want anything else? Soda or something? Beer maybe? I'd want a beer after the shit you been through," Bobby chuckled.

Lexi blushed and smiled, "Thanks but I, I don't drink. Just some water would be good, thank you."

Lexi sat down on the cot in the middle of the room. Bobby left the door open as he went to go get her a book and some water. He thought leaving the door open might make her feel less like a prisoner, though he knew he'd have to shut it soon. Thoughts of her sister assaulted her mind the second she was alone and she couldn't help but cry. She did her damnedest to pick up the crystalline tears as they fell, she didn't want any of her rescuers to know she was a freak. What if they found out and they killed her too? After all she wasn't any better than the demons they had taken her from.

The cot creaked as Bobby sat down next to her. He had a bottle of water in one hand and what looked like Alice In Wonderland in the other hand. Lexi whimpered and wiped the tear streaks off her face.

"Th-thank you. That's perfect," she said gratefully as he handed her the book and her beverage.

"I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be okay, but the boys told me about your sister. I am sorry. We won't let that happen to you. And so help me God, if I find any other hell spawn that were involved with this, I'll kill them myself. I can promise you that," Bobby said, sounding furious.

"Th-thank you. You guys, you've already done so much, I don't know how I'll ever repay you. Oh-oh god; I'm so sorry. I saw some unopened razors in your bathroom. I used one, I'm sorry but I just couldn't stand," Lexi started rambling but Bobby cut her off midsentence.

"It's alright hun, you need anything else, you just ask, ok?" Bobby patted her back.

"O-ok, thank you Bobby," Lexi whimpered, fighting back more tears.

"Alright, I'm gonna go back upstairs, see if I can find anyone in Illinois that was investigating demonic activity. You need anything you just holler, we'll be able to hear you."

"Ok Bobby, thank you, again," Lexi responded quietly. Bobby shut the heavy iron door behind him and Lexi was left alone in the "panic room." She thought it felt more like a vault or a prison cell.

Lexi opened Alice in Wonderland and managed to make it well enough through the first chapter. She wondered if they would send Sam down with her undergarments or if they'd wait. A million thoughts ran through her head in a millisecond. She thought about her dead sister, wondered about her family, sympathized with the ever-confused Alice, and even managed to suppress some illicit thoughts about the men that had rescued her. But the most prominent thought in her mind was the razor in her pocket.

She pulled the disposable razor out of the pocket of her jeans. Almost automatically her hands began to pull it apart, pulling the sides off so she could remove each blade one by one. She wasn't entirely certain her brain had told her hands to do this; she thought they were dismantling the blade instinctually. Before she even realized what she had done she had four small razor blades lying on the cot in front of her.

She contemplated what she was about to do for maybe four seconds before picking up one of the blades with her right hand and drawing it up her left arm, leaving a thin flowing ribbon of blood up her already disfigured arm.


	3. Chapter 3

** Bobby's Panic Room  
**

Sam rapped on the iron door and waited for a response. But Lexi never answered him. He assumed she was asleep and opened the door. Even the creaking of the giant door didn't wake her; she was lying on her stomach on the cot in the middle of the room. There was a book near her head and an empty bottle of water on the floor. There was a streak of red on the sheets near her arm but Sam assumed that was one of the wounds from the demons that had split open.

Lexi woke up screaming as Sam sat down next to her on the bed.

"Please just let me go!" Lexi screamed as she bolted up. Her chest was heaving with her breathing as she sat up quickly. Her face was only inches from Sam's face. The beating of her heart didn't slow when she realized she was not being imprisoned by demons; she was just in Bobby's basement, far too close to the youngest Winchester.

"Lexi, sh, shh, it's okay, it's just me. I-I brought your stuff," Sam stated in his even tone of voice as he brushed the hair back from her face. Her hair, which had been ridiculously straight before, had dried free as it pleased and was curled up in a way that reminded him far too much of Jess.

"Oh, god, Sam, I'm sorry. Thank you. I really do appreciate what you guys have done for me," Lexi muttered as she took the bag from him. Sam tried not to think about how he knew she was an extra small and a 32B, an overflowing 32B. Apparently he wasn't doing too well at not thinking about it.

"Don't worry, it's sort of what we do. How are you doing?" Sam asked, his voice heavy with concern.

"I-I-I mean I do appreciate you keeping me safe, but, this basement freaks me out. Do-Do you think maybe you could stay down here with me? Just for a little while? Please?" Lexi pleaded.

"Yeah, of course. If I were you, this room would freak me out too. You know, one time, heh, one time I got locked in here too," Sam told her.

"Really? Were demons after you too?" Lexi asked with wide eyes.

"Heh, yeah you could definitely say that," Sam almost laughed when he said this.

"What did you do? I mean, there's nothing to do down here, and maybe I'm kind of a girl but… it's really creepy down here," Lexi whispered.

"Ah, well, I mean, that was kind of a rough time for me…" Sam started to say.

"Oh, oh goodness. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to pry. Of course, we don't have to talk about that. I'm sorry, I'm so rude sometimes," Lexi whimpered.

"No, no really, it's ok. I was, ah, I was going through withdrawal so it wasn't a barrel of monkeys for me either," Sam said with that sort-of-embarrassed but ludicrously adorable smile he had.

"Oh god, you're not like a crackhead are you?" Lexi asked, her face a mask of horror.

Sam burst into laughter, which echoed off the walls and bounced back at them. Lexi was nearly hypnotized by the sound and was suddenly reminded she had never so much as been touched by a man before, "No, no I'm not a crackhead. It was… ah… well it was some other worldly stuff, ya know?"

"No, no I don't know, but I think I'd like to keep it that way," Lexi whispered.

"Ok, that's alright with me. So tell me about yourself, you know I'm Sam and I used to be an addict," Sam said with a lilt of sarcasm in his voice.

"Ah, well I'm Lexi, duh. Um, I'm 16 and I-I-I'm homeschooled. And um… I don't know," Lexi stuttered.

"Do you know why the demons kidnapped you?" Sam wasn't messing around; he jumped right to the chase.

"No, do you?" Lexi asked with eyes that were almost too wide.

"You mean besides the fact that they are evil? No," Sam whispered.

"SAAAAM! GET UP HERE!" The eldest Winchester's voice rang down the stairs.

* * *

Bobby had various newspapers splayed out across his desk and Dean was sitting in front of Sam's laptop when the youngest Winchester returned to Bobby's study.

"What in the hell took you so long boy?" Bobby asked without looking up from the article in front of him.

"That was an awfully long panty delivery Sammy. She's gotta be jailbait dude," Dean remarked, putting a scowl on Sam's face.

"Oh she is," Bobby said, sifting through his newspaper, "She's sixteen."

"How do you know that?" Dean chirped.

Bobby pointed to the article he was reading, "Says the entire Beauregarde family went missing the night of October 28th. Cops got no leads, don't even know if they're alive or dead."

"We'll let you drop that bombshell, Romeo," Dean smirked.

"Dude, seriously, I was just talking to her. She's a little freaked out right now, she wanted some company," Sam almost rolled his eyes at his older brother.

"That's not all we found either," Bobby continued, ignoring the bickering brothers.

"Someone in Illinois know something?" Sam asked, almost pulling off casually but not quite.

"No, not a damn thing in Illinois. But," Dean began to explain, "nationally there have been at least 12 families disappearing in the middle of the night in the past two months. No sign of robbery, no ransom, no nothing. And all of these places," Dean said pointing out the weather chart on the table to Sam, "have been flooded with demonic omens lately."

"So what's the link?" Sam asked.

"Ah, we don't know that yet, but we're gonna start getting a hold of hunters that might have been in those areas," Dean confessed.

"So… we're dealing with some kind of demonic kidnapping ring?" Sam asked.

"Kinda looks that way Sam," Bobby responded.

"So if we took her home…" Sam started to say.

"Someone else might come for her," Dean finished.

"You boys would take her to an empty house?" Bobby asked.

"I'm sure she has some family she could stay with," Sam answered.

"Maybe you should go tell her what we've figured out," Bobby said as he returned to shuffling through newspapers, trying to find out if any of the others that disappeared had been seen again.

Sam took a deep breath before turning around to go back downstairs. He wasn't sure whom he was thanking, but he whispered 'Thank God' when he walked out of the room without Dean making another comment about the jailbait in the basement. Why did he have to be the one to tell her that her parents were missing? Of course, Sam instantly pictured Dean's version of breaking bad news and comforting, and Sam realized exactly why he had to do it.

A high-pitched shriek rang out through the basement when Sam opened the panic room door. Lexi was scrambling to find something to hide behind, but Bobby hadn't provided much cover so she snatched a sheet off the cot and wrapped it around her bare torso. She had been in the middle of putting on the things Sam had bought her when he walked in. Sam covered his eyes and couldn't help but wonder if she already had the underwear on as he shut the door.

The wheels and gears in his brain started whirring as Sam stood, leaning against the door. Lexi had scars, lots of them, all over. None of the hunters had really noticed at first because she was still cut up from the demons, though the swelling in her face was almost gone. She had scars on her arms he hadn't noticed; scars on her stomach and hips, even scars on her back. Most of the scars, except for the ones on her back, were disturbingly orderly and neat.

This girl was fucked up.

"Ok, you can come in," Lexi called quietly from her hidey-hole in Bobby's basement.

Sam took a few deep breaths before slowly opening the door. Lexi was perched on the cot. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair had fallen in her face. She kept her eyes fixed on the ground and her fingers occupied picking lint off the sheets.

"So we found what we think might be a bunch of families that were kidnapped by demons," Sam muttered, staring at the floor. He was bouncing from the heels to the balls of his feet trying to hide from the awkward elephant in the room.

"Really? What does that mean?" Lexi asked, almost looking up.

"Honestly? We… don't know, but they're looking for a connection," Sam elaborated.

"Oh," Lexi sighed.

"And, there was something else…" Sam's voice trailed off. Obviously he didn't want to say what he had to say.

"What?" Lexi's eyes widened with fear, as she finally looked Sam in the eyes.

"Your family, they… They're missing too," Sam whispered and closed his eyes; he was afraid Lexi was about to start crying.

"They took my parents too?" Lexi's voice cracked when she asked this.

"I…It looks that way, Lex. I'm so sorry; I sort of know what you're going through. My dad went missing for a long time before he died. It was hell not knowing if he was dead or alive or where he was. But we found him, and I promise we will find your family too," Sam's voice was heartfelt as he spilled over, trying to console her.

"H-H-How did you find him?" Lexi whimpered. Her eyes were shimmering as she fought back tears. She was tired of crying; not that she wasn't normally somewhat of a crybaby, but this shit was ridiculous, even for her.

"Well he was family. We were looking for him and," Sam paused to try and think of something to say to relate to her, but failed horribly, "He was looking for us, it was just bound to happen. Just like your parents are probably worried sick about you, you're bound to find them."

A tear managed to leak from the corner of Lexi's eye; she flung herself into Sam's arms before it rolled off her cheek. She smashed her face into his soft cotton shirt as she tried to force herself not to cry. Sam was stunned, motionless, at first, but after a few seconds of her choking back tears his brain whirred back into gear and he slowly put his arms around her.

"I'm sorry Sam… I-I just, I'm so tired of everything going wrong and I miss my sister and it's my fault she's dead," Lexi was about to go off on some kind of depressive tangent.

"It's not your fault, you can't start blaming yourself, it'll kill you," Sam was running his hand through her hair trying not to pull the tiny little girl into his lap.

"Look, Sam, you don't understand yet, but you will, it's my fault. I could have," Lexi began.

Sam's cell phone started ringing. He pulled away from Lexi and dug his phone out of his pocket. He gave the bit of technology a puzzled look before answering it.

"Dean?" Sam answered. Dean was talking at a volume Lexi could almost hear but she couldn't make out what he was saying.

"So you… called me? You're going to get flabby if you're too lazy to walk down the stairs," Sam responded to whatever Dean had said.

Dean said something else and started laughing; Lexi could hear his laughter. Sam turned bright red and got that lemon-sucking look on his face before hanging up on his brother.

"They think they found something. A fifteen year old boy that went missing might have turned up," Sam explained.

Lexi's eyes were shimmering again when she realized she was about to be left alone in the basement again. She swore to herself if she got out of this whole demonic kidnapping fiasco alive she would never set foot in a basement again, ever. Not even to do her laundry.

"You want me to come back?" Sam asked, patting her head. Sam wondered momentarily why he took it so well when he was exposed to the monsters under the bed, but this girl just could not handle it. Of course he also hadn't been sliced up by demons… well not until he was much older.

Lexi nodded and Sam stood and it sounded like a few small bits of glass went tumbling to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Sam asked, looking around the room; he couldn't see anything that could have made the noise.

"Oh it sounded like it was coming from upstairs," Lexi rushed the words out. Sam shrugged and started to head upstairs.

"If you need anything," He started to say.

"Holler?" Lexi interrupted him.

"Yeah," Sam smiled and left the panic room.

As soon as the door shut behind Sam, Lexi fell to her knees on the floor and started picking up the crystalline tears that had fallen out of Sam's lap.


	4. Chapter 4

**In the Library of Bobby Singer**

Dean looked damn delighted when Sam came trudging back up the stairs.

"Well?" Sam asked.

"We found one of the missing kids," Dean exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"Really? Like alive?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Michael Rosemont, 15, went missing from his Sacramento home, along with the rest of his family, on October 7th. About two weeks later the Sacramento FD responded to call about a burning farmhouse. When they got there Michael was just standing there, staring at the charred remains of the farmhouse. It says that the cops found the remains of the rest of his family inside as well as three other Sacramento-area residents that hadn't been seen in weeks. Cops said that they couldn't identify causes of death because all the bodies were burnt up so bad. And apparently this Michael kid hasn't spoken since they found him," Dean said, pretty much repeating the article in his hand to Sam before the youngest Winchester read it over for himself.

"So we've got at least one more survivor. Do we know any hunters in the area?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I called my friend Lily, she's been mostly based in California for the past ten years, said she didn't have anything to do with it. She'd been tracking the demons but she hadn't found them before the fire. She didn't even know they had snatched up a whole family," Bobby explained.

"Has she talked to Michael at all? Does she know why it was his family that got kidnapped?" Sam asked.

"Naw, like you're brother said, the boy hasn't made a peep since they found him. She tried, but he wouldn't talk, not even to a hunter," Bobby said.

"So what are we thinking? Would it do any good for us to go all the way out there just to talk to this silent kid?" Sam didn't think driving all the way to California would be worth it if they kid wouldn't talk.

"Well…" Dean started, he had that averted look he always got when he had to tell Sam something he didn't want to say, "No it probably wouldn't do any good for _us_ to talk to him, but…" Dean trailed off.

"But you think it would be a good idea for Lexi to try?" Sam finished for him.

"I know Sam, I ain't too comfortable with this plan either. But this Michael kid has been living with his aunt since they found him and he hasn't gotten nabbed yet. And Lexi's got three hunters watching her back. And if we really want to figure this out I don't see a whole lot of other options," Bobby said.

"So you want to take the girl we've been hiding in your basement halfway across the country to talk to one of the other victims, who by the way, won't talk?" Sam asked incredulously.

"We don't want to Sam, but we have to," Dean responded.

"Fine, but you're going to be the one to tell her this time," Sam acquiesced.

"Fine," Dean retorted and headed for the basement.

* * *

Dean very slowly started opening the vault door.

"Lexi, can I come in?" He asked before pushing the door open all the way.

"Yeah," Lexi responded as she scrambled up off the floor.

"I think I've got some good news," Dean started.

"About the kid?" Lexi asked.

"Yeah, we're pretty sure we found another survivor. Turns out a lot of families have gone missing and we found a kid in California that got away, just like you. Well not just like you, we rescued you, this kid…well we don't know how he got away," Dean said.

"Ok, well that's good I think," Lexi stuttered.

"Yeah it is, problem is he's shut up like a clam, won't talk to anyone," Dean continued.

"He's probably been traumatized…" Lexi whispered.

"Yeah, which is understandable. And we were uh, well we were wondering if maybe you'd want to go to Sacramento?" Dean asked.

Lexi's eyes popped. "So wait, after locking me up in the basement, now you want to take me all the way to California?"

"Well yeah. Y'see he escaped like three weeks ago and no one has come after him, so we're thinking it might be ok to take you with us. And we kind of…were hoping…" Dean trailed off.

"Hoping what?" Lexi asked.

"Well that he might, be willing to talk to you, since you two went through the same ordeal," Dean finished.

"I-I uh well… You guys are going to protect me right?" Lexi asked unsurely.

"Of course we will. I won't let anyone lay a hand on that pretty little head of yours," Dean said, patting her head.

"And you need me to do this don't you? To stop these demons?" Lexi continued her line of questioning.

"Yeah we sort of do," Dean's voice was getting softer and softer.

"Are we all going?" Lexi kept going.

"Well, I think Bobby is going to stay here and keep checking with his contacts," Dean told her.

Lexi drew in a deep breath. More than anything she wanted to get the fuck out of this basement. But Sam had worked so hard to convince her this was the safest place to be, and now they were just going to take her on the road? Unprotected? In her mind, this sounded like an awful idea.

"So will you come with us?" Dean asked. She had to admit, he had gorgeous green eyes and a very charming way about him. It was impossible for her to say no to the oldest Winchester when he clearly needed her help.

"I-I guess I will. If this is what we have to do to stop the demons," Lexi caved.

"Awesome. Alright, well let's go upstairs and get you suited up," Dean said, taking her hand in his and leading her upstairs to Bobby's library.

Sam's eyes locked on to their hands the second he walked in the room with Lexi. It took every fiber of his being not to make a jailbait remark. He bit his tongue and tried to fight off the bitchface he so wanted to give his hypocritical brother.

"Ever been to California, Lex?" Sam asked. Lexi found it kind of strange that he'd given her nickname a nickname, but she liked it.

"Nope, have you?" She said, pulling out of Dean's grasp and taking the chair across from Bobby's desk.

"Yeah, I went to Stanford for awhile actually," Sam told her as he got up and went around the other side of the desk.

"Bottom left," Bobby said as he was flicking through some Florida newspapers.

Sam reached down into the bottom left drawer and pulled out an old wooden box. It had a latch to put a lock on, but it had no lock, at least not anymore. When Sam opened it the hinges squeaked and Lexi could see very intricate designs carved into the top of it, as well as the rest of the box. He pulled out a silver bracelet that had an array of charms all over it, and handed it to Lexi.

"What is this?" She said, gently taking the bracelet from him.

"It's for protection. Its got pentacles, runes; all sorts of things on it to keep demons away. The charms are silver, but the chain is iron," Sam explained, like Lexi would have any clue what anything he was supposed to mean to her.

A strange look passed over Dean's face. Sam would never know it, but if the bracelet he was giving Lexi wasn't their mother's, it still looked exactly like it. Lexi clipped it on and Dean couldn't help but think how she was the exact opposite of his mother.

"And here, take this," Sam said pulling out an amulet on braided black choker. It was simple, with raw crystal quartz dangling from it. Lexi snapped it around her neck as Sam pulled out a small notebook and a sharpie.

"And that's for?" Lexi asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Ah, well, if you don't mind, I was hoping I could doodle on you?" Sam asked with false innocence.

"Um, what?" Lexi was easily confused in day-to-day life, let alone when it came to warding off demons.

Sam opened the small notebook and showed her the designs inside. Stars and suns and weird symbols that she'd never seen before were all over in the little book.

"I was hoping you'd let me draw some of these on you?" Sam said with puppy dog eyes.

"I-um-w-well," Lexi stammered as she was momentarily captivated by him, "Um, I, what are they?"

"Well these are some Enochian symbols of protection, and this is a key of Solomon," Sam said as he flipped through the pages, "This is a protective sigil. See?" Sam tugged the collar of his shirt down and showed her the tattoo on his chest. "I figured you wouldn't want to get a tattoo, so we could just draw some symbols on you?"

Lexi looked over all the images and then back to Sam. She turned to look at Dean, as though he could offer some advice, but he just showed her his matching tattoo. Lexi wasn't terribly comfortable with having these boys draw all over her. "You're really worried about this aren't you? You're afraid they'll come after me again…" Lexi trailed off.

Dean came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, "Better safe than sorry Lexi. Demons are tricky bastards; we just like to be trickier."

"Ok fine," Lexi said and stuck out her arm for Sam to draw on.

Sam's puppy dog eyes faded as his eyes took on the gleam of embarrassment. Dean almost snorted as he tried to stifle his laughter. Bobby was shaking his head and muttering something at the floor. It was right about then that it became perfectly clear to Lexi that she and Bobby might be the mature ones in the room.

"Um, Lexi, I was kind of hoping we could put them somewhere less obvious. If we did …come across any demons… having marks of protection all over you is going to kind of scream 'Take me! I'm important!'" Sam said, trying to sound as reasonable as possible. Well as reasonable as a, what was he, like 26? As reasonable as a 26-year-old boy could be about drawing all over a 16-year-old girl.

"Umm… oh-okay," Lexi stuttered as Sam slid down to the floor and rolled up one of the legs on her jeans.

Lexi bit her lip when he grabbed her leg gently with one hand and started tracing lines on her calf with the other. It came to her full attention that he had gigantic hands. His hands slid down closer to her ankle and his fingers completely encircled her leg. He finished the strange Enochian symbol and switched to her other leg. Once he had rolled up her right pant leg, he realized he was holding his breath. He was tracing a warding cross over some very precise scars on her very thin leg.

Sam rolled her jeans back down when he finished; the warding cross was simple and didn't take much more than thirty seconds. "Alright, maybe we can put a few of these on your back?" Sam asked, holding the sharpie out in front of him.

"Um, I-yeah. Can we do this somewhere else?" Lexi asked, a hint of terror seeping into her voice. Sam, she knew for a fact, had seen her scars, and so far he had taken it very well. But she wasn't ready to expose that secret to the other two hunters in the room.

"Sure, let's go to the kitchen," Sam agreed and capped his marker. Once they were out of Bobby's den, Lexi silently took Sam's hand.

"Thank you," Lexi said so quietly, Sam wasn't entirely sure she had actually said it.

"For what?" Sam asked as he noticed how cold her hand felt in his.

"For saving my life. And for not being weird about… you know," Lexi mumbled as Sam swung open the kitchen door.

"You're welcome. You know if you stick around much longer, I am going to ask about it. Right now, I'll let you keep your own business to yourself. But if you stay with us much longer, we're going to end up being friends, and I'm going to have to ask. I might have to ask when you ate last too," Sam said and rapped on the kitchen table, indicating Lexi should take a seat there.

Lexi was a deep shade of crimson when she hopped onto the table. Sam took the chair behind her and he still came up to her shoulders when he hunched over to draw on her.

"Where do you want it?" He asked, holding his sharpie out like a weapon.

Lexi slowly rolled up the bottom of her shirt so he could draw on her lower back. There were old red angry lines crisscrossing all over her. Sam gently put his hand on her waist to hold her in one spot while he drug the sharpie across her scars, covering them with runes of protection. He couldn't help but notice how sharp her hip bones were under his fingers, the way her spine was so easy to see through her skin. Sam figured he could probably count the bones in her back with his eyes closed. He sighed and rolled her shirt back down after he finished a few symbols.

"What?" Lexi asked without looking back when he sighed.

"I just, I don't understand. You're such a…a… naïve, sweet girl, I think, but you're so damn self-destructive," Sam answered.

"Maybe I'm not as naïve as you think Sam," Lexi said coldly as she hopped off the table.

"Still, the things you do to yourself, I don't think you deserve it," Sam said.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about this yet," Lexi said with a quivering in her voice as she started to turn and leave the kitchen.

Sam reached out quickly, the reflexes of a hunter obvious in his motion, and grabbed Lexi by the crook of her elbow. He gently pulled her back closer to him.

"What, Sam?" Lexi asked, her cheeks turning pinker by the minute.

"I still need to do one more," Sam practically whispered.

"Oh," Lexi sounded breathless as she sat back down on the kitchen table. But Sam turned her around to face him as he took his seat back in the kitchen chair. He tugged the neck of her tank top down, revealing more scars on her clavicle and chest, and started tracing the same symbol he had over his heart on her.

It slowly dawned on Sam that Lexi's chest wasn't rising and falling; she was holding her breath.

"Lexi," Sam had started to tell her to relax, he could feel her heart trying to pound it's way out of her chest. But he realized his heart was pounding just as hard. He let go of the collar of her black shirt when he was done and she hopped off the table faster than lightning. Before Sam could even attempt to think of something to say, she was gone, probably back in the den with Dean and Bobby.

"What the fuck am I doing?" Sam asked himself quietly, wondering how he had kept himself from tearing Lexi's, jailbait he reminded himself, shirt off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Somewhere between South Dakota and California**

Dean's head snapped back to look in the backseat of his Impala as Lexi started belting out Journey. Not only was there a sixteen year old in the backseat of his car, but she knew Journey _and _she could sing.

"Here we stand, worlds apart, hearts broken in two, two, twoooooo," Lexi started to sing along but broke into laughter before she could get to the next line.

"Really?" Sam looked back at her and smiled. Something about the fact that she was genuinely laughing made him happy.

"Oh come on I love Journey. Everyone loves Journey," Lexi reasoned.

"Damn right everyone loves Journey. Some day love will find you, break those chains that biiiiiiiind you," Dean started to sing.

"One night will remind you hoooooooooooow we touched and went our separate ways," Lexi joined back in with him.

"You two are lost in another decade," Sam commented, trying to suppress a grin.

"Fine, because this decade sucks," Dean retorted.

"My thoughts exactly," Lexi agreed.

Dean leaned closer to his brother, "And by the way, I totally blame you for that."

"What? You can't blame a whole decade on me!" Sam exclaimed.

"And if you must gooooooooo, I wish you love! You'll never walk alooooooone, take care love. Miss you LOOOOOOOVE!" Lexi belted from the backseat, completely disrupting Dean's attempt to blame an entire decade's worth of shittiness on his little brother. Even if a lot of it was Sam's fault.

"Someday love will find you! Break the chains that bind you. One night will remind you how we touched and went our separate ways!" Sam finally joined in, much to Lexi's surprise.

"You know… if you both would stop playing around, I bet you'd have lovely voices," Lexi practically whispered from the backseat.

"I have always wanted to pursue a career as a rockstar," Dean said, checking himself out in the rearview mirror.

"Really? You always got on my ass about going to college and you wanted to be," Sam started but was cut off when Dean jerked the wheel to the right.

"INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PIE!" Dean roared as he whipped his classic muscle car off the interstate and onto exit 80 something somewhere in Wyoming.

"Are you serious? We haven't even been on the road," Sam started, but was interrupted again.

"Did you hear me? It's like IHOP BUT FOR PIE! We are GOING!" Dean insisted loudly.

Lexi groaned and unbuckled her seatbelt. She sprawled out in the backseat and closed her eyes. "That's gotta be some kind of copyright infringement. Just wake me when we get to Sacramento."

Sam reached back and grabbed her by the ankle and shook her leg, "Nope, if I have to go to the pie house,"

"International house of pie!" Dean corrected him.

"You're going too," Sam finished.

"But I don't even like pie," Lexi whined and immediately chastised herself in her head for sounding so goddamn annoying.

"They have more than just pie… I think," Sam said with a puzzled expression.

"I hope they have cheeseburgers," Dean chimed in as he pulled into the parking lot.

For an International House of Pie it was very small and quaint looking from the outside, as it was from the inside. It was just a small little mom and pop style diner, but behind the counter there was rotating, refrigerated displays of pie. There had to be at least thirty different types of pie behind the counter. Sam thought he could hear excitement pouring out of Dean as he bounced on the balls of his feet as they waited to be sat. The woman that sat them was an older lady who smelled of Chanel No. 5. Dean was practically pressed up against her he was following her so closely to their table.

Sam however, hung back, and closed his fingers around Lexi's wrist, holding her back too. He could feel her pulse under the pads of his fingertips. It was racing. He could also feel the bones of her wrist pressing into his palm. He much preferred the former sensation.

"Lexi, look, I know it's been days since you've had anything to eat, so please, just… get something?" Sam pleaded with her.

"What? I-no. I'm fine, and besides the…demons," Lexi lowered her voice, "Didn't exactly let me stop and grab my wallet."

"You're a kidnapping victim, I sort of expected to pay for your food, its part of the job," Sam insisted.

"No really, I couldn't. You two have already done so much," Lexi said, her voice taking on a tone like she was pleading.

"Listen to me Lex, we did not save you from fucking demons just to have you die of starvation," Sam practically growled before letting go of her and stalking off to the table that Dean was already sitting at.

Lexi stood in total shock for a few seconds. When she realized that one of the waitresses was approaching her she quickly scurried over to the table the Winchesters were sitting at. She sat down quickly when she got to the end of the table, but in her mind there was a war going on. Why couldn't they just sit next to each other? Why did Sam have to take one side and Dean take the other? She gave herself a minor headache trying to decide whom to sit next to. She realized she was getting light headed and decided to sit next to Sam.

When their waitress came around for their drink order Dean asked for pie, Lexi got water (with lime), and Sam sighed and asked for a beer. Dean prattled on about how excited for pie he was until she brought their drinks, and his pie, at which point he switched topics to Californian girls while he stuffed pie in his mouth.

"I just wonder how many of 'em," Dean paused to take another bite of his pie, "I can get at once. I hear they like that out there."

"Dude," Sam started to scold his brother for being so lewd in front of Lexi.

"So we ready to order?" Their waitress asked when she returned.

"Mmm, bacon cheeseburger and a side of…." Dean stopped to look down at his menu as he considered his side options, "Rhubarb pie."

Sam shook his head and closed his menu, "I'll just have the chicken strips."

Lexi almost laughed and she couldn't help but think that Sam eating chicken strips might possibly be the cutest thing she'd ever witness in her life. But she kept her eyes fixed on the table as she mumbled her way through ordering a side salad.

"No seriously, California girls are all about," Dean stopped midsentence. Sam had kicked him in the shin under the table. "Dude what the hell?"

Sam's eyes shifted to Lexi then back to his brother.

"What? She's not freakin' twelve! Kids her age are all, I don't know, having orgies and stuff," Dean said as he finished his last bite of his first piece of pie and waited for more.

Lexi on the other hand was about the same colour as the deep red insides of what was once Dean's cherry pie. Yep, it was a cherry pie. "Oh, really, don't mind me," She said twiddling her thumbs and staring at the grain of the wooden table.

"See? You're creeping her out, pervert," Sam said, swilling on his beer.

"No really," Lexi started quietly, but was interrupted.

"Oh come on Sam! There isn't a teenager left on this planet that's still a virgin, which by the way, I blame you for that too," Dean insisted.

"How is that my fault?" Sam retaliated.

"Well you did start the," Dean was cut off again by a sharp kick under the table.

Lexi noticed the waitress across the diner with a tray of what was probably their food. The boys were still bickering about virginity, orgies, and possibly the Apocalypse, and how, somehow, it was all Sam's fault. Lexi leapt up from the table and bolted out the front door of the diner.

"Well that was really dumb. You know, a normal girl would have booked it to the bathroom," Dean commented. Sam just gave him that look, that bitchy look. "Oh fine, I'll go get her."

Dean got up from his table right as the waitress was, in fact, bringing their food. He stared longingly at his pie as he walked away. He stared so longingly that he actually ran into another waitress who was seating a table at the time. He apologized and somehow, through careful manipulation of the infamous Dean Charm, got her phone number before heading outside. At first he looked around and didn't see anyone, but the sound of a hyperventilating young girl led him around the side of the building. Lexi was curled up in a little ball, on a quaint old bench, in a small garden area off to the side of the parking lot.

"Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing?" Dean asked as he approached her.

"I-I just needed, some, um, fresh air," Lexi was breathing heavily.

Dean took a seat next to her, "Why are you freaking out?"

"I just, um, I don't know. All the arguing about…" Lexi buried her face in her knees without finishing her sentence.

Dean gave her a puzzled sort of look for a second before it finally dawned on him, "Oh my god, you really are a virgin!"

Lexi looked up at Dean with wide, horrified eyes. She opened her mouth to respond to him but couldn't force any words out.

"Well, look, I'm sorry," Dean put his arm around her, "For making you feel uncomfortable. Come on, let's go back inside."

Lexi slowly stood and let Dean guide her back into the pie house. Though if she were to tell the truth, she had just wanted to get away from their bickering. She didn't want to hear Dean blame every awful thing in the world on Sam, and she really didn't want to hear Sam's attempts at defending her virtuosity. Nonetheless, she flopped back down in the booth across from Dean. And stared. She stared for too long at her salad.

"Come on Lex," Sam said, nudging her with his elbow before taking another bite out of his chicken finger.

Yep, definitely the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

She tried her damnedest to think of anything she could say to avoid eating that goddamn salad, but nothing came to mind, well nothing reasonable. She picked up her fork and stabbed at the lettuce in front of her.

"So how long till we get to Sacramento do you think?" Lexi asked before taking her first bite.

"Not too long, another day or two if we don't stop. Can you drive?" Dean asked, wearing his thinking expression. "Never mind, I'm not letting a sixteen year old girl drive my baby."

"Oh, well, yeah I can drive, but I've never driven a stick before," Lexi said as she poked her fork around in her salad.

Sam could tell by the look on Dean's face that he was trying so hard not to make some kind of sexist comment. Well at least he was trying. Sam ate the last of his chicken strips and started on his fries. He flagged the waitress down and ordered another beer and a slice of French silk pie for dessert. Dean asked for a slice of pumpkin pie and a slice of apple pie for dessert. Lexi asked for another water.

"How do you not like pie?" Dean asked.

"I well, I guess I'm just not real big on sweets," Lexi mumbled. Something about the way she said it disinclined Sam to believe her.

"Weird," Dean gave her a look that you'd give an animal you've never seen in your life before shoving the last bite of his rhubarb pie in his mouth.

"You're the one who ordered FOUR slices of pie," Sam remarked.

"Hey, I think we all know that I hunt much better on pie than off pie," Dean said, pointing his fork at his brother like a sword.

"I didn't know that," Lexi mumbled and dropped her napkin on her plate and set her fork on top. She slid the half eaten salad to the edge of the table to indicate she was done. Sam looked at the table like it had just broken his iPod. Dean looked from his brother to Lexi and back and forth a few times before deciding to vacate the area. There was so much tension strung up between them you could dry your friggin' laundry on it.

"I uh, yeah, I'll be right back," Dean said and slid out of the booth, making a break for the bathroom.

"Seriously Lexi? How do you function like this?" Sam asked the second Dean was out of earshot.

"It's not that big of a deal Sam. Really, I'm fine," Lexi insisted.

"No you're not. I could snap you in half over my knee. One of these days you're going to get hurt really badly or you're just going to pass out or something. You need to eat," Sam was trying very hard not to sound angry. He wasn't angry, not really; he was just scared.

"Really Sam, I'm fine," Lexi repeated.

Sam picked up one of his French fries and held it out in front of her face, "Eat it."

"No, really, I'm ok. Fried foods are," She started to decline.

"Eat the fucking fry," Sam growled. He found the longer he was around this girl, the coarser his language got.

Lexi just sort of stared at the French fry, looking completely puzzled.

"Open your goddamn mouth," Sam snarled.

Lexi, mostly out of fear that Sam was on the verge of eating her, opened her mouth. Sam gently fed her the French fry.

"Now was that so hard?" He asked, an adorable smile slowly beginning to play on his face.

"I um," Lexi tried to mutter through chewing. Her worst fear had just come true. She had a taste and now she wanted more. Her stomach snarled and she thought about all the food she hadn't eaten; all the food she had wanted to eat. Her stomach gargled again and pain shot through her abdomen.

"Shit," She whimpered and bolted from the table, following almost exactly in Dean's footsteps, but then swirling into the women's room.

"Are you shitting me?" Sam asked no one just as the waitress brought their desserts. Dean wasn't long behind her. He smiled as he looked at his whip cream topped pies.

"Where'd Lexi go?" He asked innocently.

"Bathroom," Sam grumbled and assaulted his pie with his fork.

"Jesus Sammy, if this is how you're going to act, why don't you just fuck her and get it over with?" Dean said, mostly joking.

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

Lexi looked unsteady on her feet when she returned to the table. She practically collapsed into the booth next to Sam and chugged down her entire glass of ice water and closed her eyes.

"You okay?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, just uh, there was cheese on the salad and I'm lactose intolerant, kind of upset me a bit," She was lying through her teeth. Well, mostly. She was lactose intolerant, but there wasn't cheese on the salad. What had upset her stomach was the fact that something besides a vegetable had passed through her lips for the first time in... well she didn't even know how long anymore.

"You sure?" Sam asked, his anger slowly fading as he looked at her. She was somehow pale and blushing at the same time. Her hands were just barely shaking and her eyes weren't staying what you'd call open.

"Mmhmm," Lexi insisted weakly.

Sam kissed her forehead, it felt clammy, "Thank you for trying," He whispered quietly, so Dean wouldn't hear.

And that was the last thing Lexi remembered before the world went dark.


	6. Chapter 6

**Somewhere Between Here and There**

Consciousness slowly returned to Lexi, but her eyelids were too heavy to open. She was warm and restrained. Her arms and legs met resistance whenever she tried to move. She groaned and realized she would have to open her eyes. There was sunlight, everywhere. It was too bright so she shut her eyes again.

"What's… um…" Lexi started to question where she was but the words were sluggish in her mouth.

"Oh thank god," A male voice responded.

Lexi barely opened one eye and saw a mess of floppy hair above her. She started to feel like she was being held up by tree trunks. Dean opened the door of his 67 Impala and Sam very carefully climbed in the backseat, his arms wrapped around the barely conscious girl.

"Sam?" Lexi mumbled and opened her eyes, once she was in the car it wasn't so bright anymore.

"Lexi, hey can you hear me?" Sam asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sorry. I'm okay," She said as Sam set her down, "Really, I just got lightheaded is all. Where are we?"

"In the car, we're taking you to the hospital," Sam explained. She could swear he almost sounded angry.

"No no no, really, we shouldn't do that."

"I think we should," Dean chimed in as he slid into the driver's seat. He looked back to his brother. Dean was waiting for Sam to take his seat up front, but it looked like he was staying in the back.

"I'm fine really, just… I just need some juice or something, low blood sugar, hypoglycem…ic. Happens all the ...um... the time," Lexi yawned and had a long hard time getting out a sentence that was complete bullshit. She closed her eyes and laid her head on Sam's shoulder. "Just… tired."

"I don't think so," Dean responded.

"Dean," It was Sam, a note of hesitance in his voice.

"Sammy, are you…" Dean, sounding astonished, didn't even know how to finish his sentence.

"Dean…if she's going to be alright… We really can't take her to the hospital. She's probably a missing person; they'll want to keep her. Shit Dean they might…" Sam stopped. He wasn't sure it was his place to explain Lexi's… condition… to Dean. If they took her to a hospital there was a strong possibility they'd throw her in a psych ward.

"They might what?" Dean asked. His hands were white from gripping the steering wheel so tight.

"I don't know Dean, they might take her from us or call the cops on us. What if they think WE kidnapped her?" Sam was building up for one of his tangents.

"Alright alright. So what do we do?" Dean asked.

"We don't do anything, I'm fine," Lexi said, sounding a little too weak.

"SHUT UP!" The brothers said in unison.

"We get her some food and some vitamins and a lot of sleep," Sam reasoned.

"We just got food!" Dean argued, as he started to pull out of the parking lot.

"Yeah well, we try again."

"Really boys, just," Lexi started to speak again.

"Shut up!" Dean yelled again.

"Dean, just stop at a store or something okay?" Sam said quietly.

Lexi was slowly starting to fall asleep, using Sam as a pillow. This wasn't the first time she had fainted in a restaurant, unfortunately. This had happened to her a lot for how rarely she actually got to leave the house. Well, that was before the kidnapping and demons coming out of the closet. But at that moment, Lexi didn't much care about freaking demons. All she wanted was a nice big fruit smoothie, a bottle of water, and a blanket.

Sam looked down at Lexi. She was drifting into unconsciousness again. Or maybe she was already asleep. Her head was resting on his bicep, her neck bent at what looked like a very uncomfortable angle. Sam very carefully pulled his arm out from underneath her and she shifted almost reflexively, her head falling into his lap and her arms circling around him.

"Oh… shit," Sam whispered. He inhaled deeply and tried to stop the loop in his mind that kept saying 'There is a 16-year-old girl passed out in my lap. There is a 16-year-old girl passed out in my lap. There is…'

Dean looked at his brother in the rearview mirror and couldn't help but glare. Here Mr. High-and-Mighty Sam was giving Dean the jailbait lectures, but then he ends up with said jailbait in his lap.

"Hypocrite," Dean muttered.

"Oh shut up. What am I supposed to do?" Sam looked down at Lexi. She looked rather peaceful.

"How about not cuddle with the jailbait?" Dean snapped as he pulled into a parking lot of some massive chain store.

The boys sat in silence for all of five seconds.

"You're going to make me go in too aren't you?" Dean whispered angrily.

"Well I can't exactly go anywhere right now," Sam whispered back. They were having one of those heated whisper-arguments.

"Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone," Dean snarled and started to get out of the car.

"Wait," Sam called in his loudest whisper.

"What?" Dean was about fed up.

"Get um, like 100% juice, none of that concentrate crap," Sam said.

"Oh my god, are you serious?" Dean rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and get some water too. Oh and maybe a Gatorade! And some food. Get her some kind of snack," Sam said. "And maybe some multivitamins."

Dean just shook his head and got out of the car, muttering to himself about how Sam can't be whipped without getting laid, and by the way, why doesn't Sam ever get laid? And why the fuck was Dean playing errand boy for a girl that, he was starting to wonder, might be more trouble than she was worth? And… Dean's train of thought got cut off as a very blonde, very not-jailbait girl walked by him.

Sam sighed and looked down at Lexi, dreaming away in his lap. She had managed to curl herself up in a very small little ball; Sam hadn't thought she'd actually fit in the space she'd allotted herself. He tried his hardest not to run his fingers through her hair, but it happened anyway. When he realized what he was doing he stopped and gently shook her shoulders.

"Lexi, wake up. We have to talk," Sam whispered as she gently nudged her awake.

"What? Oh, sorry did I fall asleep? Where are we?" She slowly roused and when she realized exactly where she was, Sam's lap, she blushed and sat up quickly.

"We're waiting for Dean, he went to get you some… I don't know supplies?" Sam answered.

"Oh, that's so nice…" Lexi trailed off. She felt awful. It had suddenly dawned on her just how much of a burden she was to these boys.

"Lexi, just listen to me. Ok?" Sam begged.

Lexi nodded but couldn't think of anything to say.

"There are demons out there that want you. Do you get that? So there's a high enough chance that you'll die without you starving yourself to death. Now, I promise we will do our best to keep you safe from them, but I can't keep you safe from yourself too. You have to do that. Look, I understand it's hard to stop something once you start, believe me, I understand, but you need to be on your toes right now. We can't have you fainting all over the place," Sam said, some time while he was talking, Lexi's hands had twisted up in his and he realized just how hard he was squeezing them.

"I, uh, w-well," Lexi stammered. "I'm sorry, this is really awkward." Before Sam could even realize what she was doing she had hopped out of the car and was lying out on the asphalt. Sam quickly bolted out of his side of the car and came around to her side.

"Lexi…" Sam was towering over her.

"I'm sorry Sam. I really don't mean to be such a pain and I'll do my best to stop passing out all the time. I just… it's been rough lately," Lexi said and spotted Dean halfway across the parking lot.

"Well can you at least eat whatever the hell Dean got you?" Sam said, plunking down on the ground next to her.

"Yeah, I guess," Lexi conceded.

"Here ya go Princess," Dean said handing her a bag of assorted groceries. When she took it from him he offered her his hand and pulled her up off the ground.

"Thank you Dean," Lexi said, brushing gravel off of her back. She turned to get in the car and but stopped when she felt Dean's hands on her back. Her breath caught in her throat as the shorter Winchester brushed more asphalt off of her. His hands weren't as big as Sam's but they still sent shivers down her spine. When her mind kicked back into gear she scrambled back into the car. Dean slid into the driver's seat and Sam took his seat up front.

Lexi looked through Dean's Bag of Goodies. She found a purple Gatorade, two bottled waters, a whole carton of orange juice, a bag of Funyons, two Twix bars, and a bottle of multi vitamins.

"Wow, Dean… really, thanks," She repeated as she opened the Gatorade.

"You're welcome, oh hey, gimme one of them Twix," Dean said.

Lexi passed him one of the candy bars as she swilled down almost all of her Gatorade. "So how much longer until we get to California?"

Sam looked over his map for a minute, "We can probably make it late tomorrow. I think we're going to have to stop somewhere tonight."

Lexi popped a vitamin in her mouth and downed the rest of her Gatorade. "I wish I had a swimsuit, if we stopped somewhere with a pool…" She trailed off when she thought about the idea of wearing a swimsuit in front of these two.

"See this is why we don't take people along with us," Dean scolded, though he didn't really seem too angry. "We don't have any clothes for our little kidnappee, no swimsuit, no toothbrush, hell we don't even have a hairbrush she can use!"

"She can use my hair brush," Sam mumbled so quickly it almost sounded like one word.

"I'm going to pretend like you didn't say that," Dean commented as he eyed Lexi in the mirror.

"Um, I'm… I'm sorry. Look if you just… I mean, you didn't have to bring me… You could take me home if you'd rather," Lexi mumbled inconsistently.

"No, not happening. Here," Dean took out his wallet and tried to hand Lexi some old wrinkled bills. "Go back in the store, get some provisions, ok?"

Lexi's eyes were wide as Dean held the cash in her face, "I c-couldn't possibly…" Lexi began to stutter.

"Go get some damn clothes!" Dean said; he was just angry enough to make Lexi to snatch the money and jump out of the car, leaving the two Winchesters alone, the faint sound of Motorhead emanating from the radio.

Dean looked at Sam out of the corner of his eye, which was just enough of an opening for Sam.

"Dean…" Sam was trying to think of the best way to say what he wanted without Dean jumping down his throat.

"What the fuck are we gonna do?" Dean spit it out for him.

"She's sixteen, we can't do anything," Sam muttered.

"I KNOW!" Dean gripped the wheel tight in frustration.

"And besides…" Sam's mind wandered.

"You wouldn't have a chance," Dean finished his sentence.

"What? Really Dean? You have no idea," Sam started to argue.

"Oh believe me Sammy, sixteen year old virgins LOVE the bad boy James Dean thing," Dean said, popping the collar of his leather jacket.

Sam just shook his head and chuckled.

"What, you really think I couldn't if I wanted to?" Dean turned to his brother, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"No, No Dean. Jailbait! And besides we are so NOT having a contest over JAILBAIT!" Sam said, always the mature one.

"It's not a contest if you don't stand a chance Sammy," Dean grinned and turned up the volume on his tape deck and started playing the air drums.

"Not to interrupt your 'jam out' but seriously Dean, jail… bait," Sam said over the music.

"Dude, Sammy, chill out. I'm just going to find out when her birthday is," Dean smiled and laughed.

Sam didn't know what to say to his brother anymore. He was doing that whole blur-the-line-between-porn-and-reality thing that he loved to do so much. Normally Sam would just let it slide and Dean could have his fun, but now they were talking about breaking the law. Wait, when had that ever stopped the Winchesters?

The car door slammed as Lexi slid back in with a couple of bags, "Thank you, again. I can't believe the things you boys do for me."

"Anything for a damsel," Dean smirked and pulled out of the parking lot.

"It is sort of what we do," Sam laughed a little, "You know, saving people."

"Well thank you, I hope I can repay you someday," Lexi smiled and immediately turned a vibrant shade of red. Her breathing quickened as she leaned forward and planted a light kiss on each of the brothers' cheeks.

"Right well, I say we get the hell out of Wyoming and find us a motel," Dean said with a nervous grin on his face. He hadn't expected a kiss from a sixteen year old to send his heart racing.

"Where the hell are going to get a room with three beds?" Sam asked; his face had a lost in a daze sort of look to it.

"Ah…. Good point," Dean glanced in the rearview mirror at their passenger.

"I'll take a couch or a floor or something," Lexi said.

"No, no. We'll figure something out. A suite or something," Dean answered.

"I've never stayed in a suite," Lexi answered. She started daydreaming about bubble baths and big fuzzy robes, oh and room service!

"Well add it to the list of 'Things I never did before I met the Winchesters'" Dean smiled at her in the rearview mirror.

Lexi blushed and Sam shot Dean a dirty look, "Oh this is going to be one hell of a road trip," Sam mumbled, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

_Great,_ Sam thought, _Now I have to be on anti-demon detail and preserve her virtue detail._

* * *

Author's Note:: Sorry about the delayed update! I've been so busy with work and... well karaoke honestly. If this chapter seems disjointed, I apologize, I think it took me like five sessions to get it all done because I kept getting interrupted. I will try my bestest to update more frequently. And don't worry, it's rated M for a reason, we will get there! Constructive reviews are always appreciated! Or you can just say how awesome I am :p


	7. Chapter 7

**Somewhere between Salt Lake City and Nevada**

"Alright so seriously, this is hotel number three, if they don't have a big enough room, I might just have to blast through a wall and make the room big enough," Dean said as he got out of his car.

"Really, guys, let's just pray for a sleeper sofa," Lexi said.

"I am NOT sleeping on a couch! I sleep in my car too much to sleep on a couch," Dean demanded.

"Well I'll take the couch Dean," Lexi responded.

Sam smiled at her, "Sorry, but you know there's no way we're making the girl sleep on the couch."

"I really don't mind. It'd be the best place I've slept in awhile. Remember? Tied up in a basement, and in the backseat of a car, and on a cot, and in the backseat of a car again…" Lexi rambled as she swilled on her carton of orange juice.

"It's already after midnight Dean, we'll just get the biggest room we can," Sam decided for them.

"And they have a pool here!" Lexi chimed in, sounding a little whiny, as she climbed up on the fence to look into the pool.

"You bought a swimsuit didn't you?" Dean asked her.

Lexi smiled and tugged a dark blue and silver something out of her bag before quickly shoving it back in.

"Women…" Dean sighed as they went inside.

When they got to the counter, of course, there were no 3-bed rooms, but they did have a two-bedroom suite with a sleeper couch. Dean dropped his D. Van Morrison platinum card on the counter and racked it up for one expensive night. Sam carried most of their bags into the room. Lexi took out the outfits she had just bought and packed them into Sam's bag before sprinting into the bathroom with her swimsuit in hand.

"RoShamBo for the bed?" Dean asked with his eyebrow cocked.

Dean, of course, lost because he threw scissors and Sam threw rock. Just like always. Sam put on his best hellish grin, which was still non-threatening and adorable, and Dean turned around and started swearing.

"Fuck! Goddamn it why do you ALWAYS win?" Dean swore.

"Because you ALWAYS throw scissors!" Sam answered logically, laughing as Lexi scuttled out of the bathroom.

She was dressed in the same outfit she'd been wearing, but she didn't have her swimsuit in her hand anymore. She was carrying a towel instead and Dean could swear she had a twinkle in her eye. She kind of reminded him of a puppy waiting by the door to go outside.

"You want to go swimming now?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Well, I, I figured we were leaving early in the morning," Lexi started to say.

"We are," Dean interrupted.

"So I won't have a chance tomorrow…" Her sentence trailed off.

"You should really get some rest," Sam said, sounding a little more fatherly than anyone cared for.

"Come on Sam, let the poor girl go swimming. How many times is she going to get to go swimming in November in Illinois?" Dean responded on Lexi's behalf.

"Or ever," She mumbled.

"Come on Uncle Sam, let the poor girl have her childhood," Dean said, a fake tone of pleading colouring his voice.

"Fine we'll go swimming," Sam rolled his eyes as he caved.

"What? No, you guys don't have to go," Lexi looked completely mortified as she spoke.

"Nah, I could go for a good swim," Dean said, pulling his shirt off over his head already.

"Well as long as Dean is going with you… I'm tired, I think I'm going to get some rest," Sam said with a yawn.

Lexi snatched a wad of Sam's shirt in her fist and started whispering to him, "What? Sam, no, I… It's bad enough that you had to… I don't want him to see too."

Sam hunched over, he had to in order to be face to face with Lexi, and put his hands on her shoulders, "Dean's a good guy. I promise you that he won't freak out."

"Yeah but… I'm," Lexi started to say.

"What are you two lovebirds whispering about?" Dean said loudly; he was waiting by the door.

Lexi blushed and jumped a little before scrambling for the door. Dean paused to give Sam a smile that said more than words could before grabbing a towel and slamming the door behind him.

Lexi was sitting poolside with her jeans rolled up and her feet dangling in the pool.

"We're going to have to redraw those now you know," Dean commented as he noticed the symbols Sam had drawn on her legs were washing off.

"Yep, probably," Her eyes were fixed on the surface of the water. She was so transfixed she almost didn't hear the clinking of Dean's metal belt buckle. She almost didn't notice him shimmy out of his jeans next to her. She almost didn't see him jump into the pool in nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs. Which, she couldn't help but note, were dark blue.

"So you wanted to go swimming so bad and now you won't even get in?" Dean asked when he surfaced.

"I, well," Lexi blushed and shut her trap. She felt like she was standing under a spotlight.

Dean paddled towards her slowly, "I don't know if you're scared of me or embarrassed or what, but I won't make you do anything you don't want to. So I," He turned away from her, "am going to go chill over here in this corner for awhile." Dean was in a corner opposite Lexi, floating on his back with his eyes closed.

Lexi looked around cautiously, but there really wasn't anyone to keep an eye out for. She checked again to be sure Dean still had his eyes closed. She breathed deeply as her face turned red. She tugged her tank top up over her head. She was overjoyed that she had decided to get a one-piece suit, but was thoroughly disappointed in herself for getting one with cutout sides. She flopped back down onto the ground quickly. There was no way her jeans were coming off. Nope.

"Well if you don't want to get in, why don't you at least tell me something about you," Dean said, lazily floating on his back.

"I, what?" Lexi was blind sided by his request.

"Well I mean, if we're going to be on the road like this for the next few days, we should get to know each other, right? Where do you go to school? Do you have a job? What's your favourite colour? What's your birthday? Stuff like that."

"Oh um, I… I'm homeschooled, and no I don't have a job. I did just get a car though… which doesn't really make any sense. Um, my favourite colour is blue and my birthday is November 28th, so that's something to look forward to," Lexi said nervously.

"Yeah, that's not too far off. Remind me to get you a birthday present. Well, I don't go to school; I have a GED. You know what my job is. My favourite colour is green because black isn't a colour. And my birthday is January 24th," Dean said, paddling about leisurely.

"So… why…how… What made you two start doing this? This whole… killing things and saving people business?" Lexi asked as she contemplated actually getting in the pool.

"For future reference, it's usually a touchy subject to ask a hunter, that's what we're called, why the hunt by the way. But, Sam and I, well when we were young… a demon killed our mother. So our father started hunting, and I guess… we were just raised into it," Dean explained.

"Oh… god, I'm sorry Dean," Lexi apologized.

"It's okay, just don't go around asking every hunter you meet that question."

Lexi was out of her jeans faster than lightning and in the pool before Dean even realized what was going on. Water splashed on his face and he opened his eyes. Lexi popped up in the middle of the ripples on the surface.

"Get over your stage fright?" Dean asked.

Lexi flipped her hair out of her face and smiled, "Yep." She dove under the surface.

Dean grinned and flopped back onto his back.

Lexi popped her head out of the water to breathe, "Thank you Dean."

"For what?" He asked, opening one eye.

"Helping me… and I don't mean the whole saving my life thing, but thanks for that too. I mean… tonight. I'm afraid after all this is over, I'll have to, I don't know, grow up? I don't want to," Lexi moved towards the shallower end of the pool so she could stand.

Dean drifted over to her and planted his feet on the bottom of the pool, "Anything I can do to help you enjoy your childhood."

"Thank you… I really… I didn't get to have a normal childhood. I don't think I've been swimming since I was…maybe six?"

"Your parents like to keep you sheltered or something? Homeschooled and you don't go to the pool?" Dean asked out of sheer curiosity.

"Something like that, yeah," Lexi's heart was racing. She didn't want to talk about her parents or why they kept her hidden away. She just wanted to enjoy the few carefree nights she could have. She realized she was somehow drifting closer to the man in front of her, the way older man, her brain was screaming.

"You alright?" Dean asked when her face turned crimson.

"Yeah, I just…um… I don't know," Lexi stuttered. Her fingers were twisting up with Dean's under the water. He was pulling on her hand, but so softly she could barely feel it. Her mind was working through so many thoughts at once she thought it would short circuit. Of course the most prevalent was the fact that Dean was a good 14 years older than her. And of course, that was the last thing on Dean's mind.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Dean asked and cupped her face with his free hand.

Lexi shook her head and then braced herself to look up at Dean. She had to tell him no, she had to pull away, she had to… Get lost in his gorgeous green eyes. A little smile was playing on his lips. Thoughts of years and ages were floating away, easily replaced by thoughts of how soft those lips probably were. Her mind slowly started to return to planet Earth when she felt the Winchester boy's fingers disentangling from hers.

There was a hand on the small of her back. The air around her felt warmer, felt like it was crackling with electricity. That could be really bad.

And then there was nothing. Everything seemed to melt and all Lexi could feel was Dean's lips against hers. She wasn't sure if she felt like she was floating because she was in fact floating or if that was a side effect of your first kiss. And that was about when it dawned on her that Dean had just hijacked her first kiss and she pulled away.

"I uh, I'm… I am um," Lexi stuttered.

"Glowing?" Dean asked, a look of shock on his face.

"What? No! I'm sorry, I…" Lexi bolted out of the pool and back towards the room.

Dean didn't know if he should be worried about the fact that she was covered in scars or if he should be worried about the fact that he was pretty damn sure she was glowing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Knolls, Utah**

Lexi blew through the somewhat tacky suite that Winchesters had gotten for the night. She ran into the back bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her, locking it and collapsing to the floor.

"…Oh my…goodness… I just…" Lexi stuttered, speaking to herself… she thought. "I mean, holy shit…" She covered her mouth as soon as the word came out.

"Holy shit what?" Sam said groggily from the bed.

Lexi squealed like a puppy that had just gotten kicked and bolted from the room as fast as she could. Of course, she didn't think about the fact that she had just locked the door, so she fought with it before finally getting out and locking herself in the other bedroom.

At least she'd managed to stop glowing.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door.

"Lexi?" It was definitely Sam's voice on the other side of the door.

"Um… yeah?" She asked precariously.

"Are you, uh okay? You seemed kind of freaked," Sam asked before putting his hand on the doorknob.

"Yeah, I uh… I'm alright," Lexi said as she knob twisted to no avail.

"You want to let me in?" Sam asked.

"Um, I… I don't know, not really… but sort of," Lexi responded vaguely.

"So… um… you should let me in? Please?" Sam said without sounding like he was pleading.

Lexi stood up and lighted her fingers on the locking mechanism. She paused for a moment, she wasn't sure she wanted to let him in. Her head was still swimming from… Dean.

She inhaled and whispered "Every part of this trip has been so wrong," before opening the door for Sam.

"Are you alright? Where are your clothes? You…look… fine?" Sam was confused. She was soaking wet; she hadn't brought her clothes or her towel back in from the pool. "Oh god, please tell me Dean didn't say something…"

"N-no, no, he didn't. He just, uh, I …" Lexi stuttered but was saved by the sound of the front door slamming.

"Dean! Is everything alright?" Sam asked as Dean walked into the living room.

"Yeah, we're good. She just uh…" Dean tossed her clothes and towel into the bathroom before drying his hair with his own towel. "Did you know Sammy?"

Sam looked from Dean to Lexi before responding to his brother, "Ah, know… what?"

Lexi's eyes widened as she prayed to god…

"About her scars?" Dean said, though it barely sounded like a question.

"Ah, well… Yeah."

Lexi looked at both of the Winchesters before deciding to dart back into one of the bedrooms and locking herself in again. She didn't want to be around if they were going to sit around and talk about her and her… issues. Rather, they weren't issues; she was just fine. They didn't need to talk about anything.

She grabbed a white tank top and a pair of dark blue shorts with a little silver flower on the right leg (the only reason she had bought them…with Dean's money) off the dresser and changed out of her wet swimsuit.

She flipped the lights off and climbed into the queen-sized bed and reminded herself to enjoy all that their suite had to offer in the morning.

* * *

Lexi woke up to the sound of nothing. Her room was dark and warm. She pushed the curtains back and looked up at the stars in the night sky. It was still dark. She looked at the clock by her bed; it was just after two am. She quietly peaked out into the living area of the suite. It was silent, well except for Dean snoring quietly on the couch. Sam, she assumed, was in the other bedroom. She crept slowly across the room, thankful for the soft padded carpet that was muffling her steps. She grabbed Sam's iPod and key card off the coffee table and slipped outside as fast as she could.

She saw a car pulling out of the parking lot and decided to head around the back of the building, back near the pool. She got to the edge of the sidewalk and looked up at the fence surrounding the area. She wanted to be in the grass, not imprisoned in concrete and steel. She tucked Sam's iPod away carefully in her bra and climbed up the fence. Once she got to the top she realized she had no idea how she was going to get down. She popped her ankles and jumped down. She landed with a little pain in her legs but shook it off quickly.

She scrolled through the music in Sam's iPod.

"Oh wow…College rock, who'd have guessed?" Lexi said, sticking the ear buds in, still scrolling through the music. She found the Postal Service and decided that was as good as anything and pushed play on 'Such Great Heights' before tucking the iPod back into her bra. She took first position as she waited for the music to begin.

Sam noticed the shadows moving on his walls as he tossed and turned. He couldn't sleep. He thought he had heard something but when he woke up he didn't notice anything out of place in the room. He was trying to sleep when he saw a shadowy figure dancing across his wall. He looked out his window and saw a figure twirling through the grass behind the hotel. A streetlight; sometimes red, sometimes green, and sometimes yellow, illuminated her.

Sam noticed it was Lexi in the middle of her grand jete. He had been completely unaware that she …was a ballerina? Or did she just know ballet? Either way, it dawned on Sam that the girl they had riding around in their car was a complete mystery to them. He grabbed his sweatshirt off the dresser and headed out into the living room.

"Wh-KELLY CLARKSON!" Dean shot up, yelling, on the couch when Sam shut his door. He hadn't even put two thoughts towards being quiet, and had awoken Dean.

"Sh, go back to bed dude," Sam whispered, for no real reason since no one was in the room but them.

Dean fell back onto the couch and stuck his leg off the side before falling back into a deep sleep. Sam headed for the door and noticed his iPod was gone and so was his room key. He took a deep breath and prayed Lexi had it as he stepped out of the room, the door locking behind him.

He wandered around the side of the hotel, passing through the pool area, and hitting a fence.

"Seriously Lexi, you hopped the fence for … ballet?" Sam said, but she couldn't hear him, she was in the middle of the grass and she had headphones in.

Sam easily scaled up the fence and hopped over to the other side. It was far less of a challenge for him than it was for the pirouetting teenager. He hung back in the shadows for a minute, watching her dance. It seemed like she didn't have a care in the world. Sam wondered what that was like. He couldn't remember; it had been upwards of ten years since he actually felt like a kid.

In the middle of an assemble` en tournant Lexi noticed Sam hiding in the dark and messed up her landing. Sam scurried over to her.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, crouching next to her.

"Yeah I just… you scared me. I shouldn't have done that anyway, that was a man's jump," Lexi responded as she stood and brushed herself off.

"What are you doing out here?" Sam said curiously.

"I just… couldn't sleep, had to blow off some steam," Lexi said.

"So you came out here by yourself?" Sam was starting to sound… upset.

"Well… I… I mean… I thought I wasn't really in danger anymore?" Lexi said naively.

"That is so beyond true. Come on, let's go inside," Sam couldn't help but notice that all of the marks he had drawn on her were gone. "Let's get you reinked." Sam took Lexi's hand and led her back to the fence they had both hopped. "Can you climb this yourself?"

"Yeah of course I can," Lexi replied.

"Ok, well I'm going to go over first then so I can help you down," Sam told her and quickly scaled the fence. She thought he resembled a hulking, but graceful, cat as he leapt to the ground, landing squarely on his feet.

Lexi, however, took a little longer to make it up the fence. She carefully slid her feet into the openings of the fence and climbed up slowly. She perched on the bar up top and looked down at Sam. He stretched his arms up but could only barely touch her leg.

"Alright, jump, I'll catch you," Sam said, backing up. Lexi hesitated for a minute before hopping right off the fence.

She landed in Sam's arms with an "oof." She didn't say anything, but she thought he took an awkwardly long time setting her on her own two feet. She couldn't be certain if Sam had taken her hand or if she took his, but somehow, they walked back to their room hand in hand. Lexi unlocked the door with Sam's key and crept quietly past Dean. Sam slowly opened the door to his room and went over to the dresser as Lexi followed behind him. He snagged a marker out of his backpack and sat down on the bed. Lexi took her seat in front of him. The tip of the marker felt cold as Sam traced it along her skin.

"You want me to just put them all on your back this time?" Sam asked as he finished some Celtic knot design.

"Sure. Oh!" Lexi fished his iPod out of her bra and set it on the bed next to her. "Sorry, you probably want that back."

Sam was immensely grateful that she couldn't see how red his cheeks were turning, "Oh, yeah definitely," He answered. His iPod had gotten to second base with a minor. His iPod had broken the law. His iPod was a child molester. Or was the child an iPod molester? Sam shook his head and tried to clear his mind of the insane loop it was going in.

"What are we going to do after California, Sam?" Lexi asked, a hint of worry in her tone.

"I don't know. I guess it depends on what we find there. Hopefully we'll be able to take you home," Sam responded as he looped a circle around the pentacle he was drawing.

"Do you really think this kid will know anything?" Lexi asked.

"Honestly? And don't take this the wrong way, I'm just hoping he knows more than you," Sam commented, adding a cross to her right shoulder blade.

"Yeah," Lexi laughed lightly, "I am kind of clueless, sorry."

"It's not your fault. Most people don't know anything about… things that go bump in the night. How can we expect you to know what's going on when you didn't even have a clue that supernatural things existed until now?" Sam said as he rolled her shirt down, having finished his drawings.

"Um, right. Well, I think I'm going to get a few more hours of sleep. Will you wake me up in the morning?" Lexi asked; her eyes fixed on the floor.

"Yeah sure, good night Lex," Sam said, standing to walk to her room, though he didn't know why. She shuffled quickly out and shut the door behind her though, leaving Sam staring at his bedroom door feeling oddly dejected.

Lexi slid back into her room quietly and curled up in her bed again. She closed her eyes and buried her face in the pillow. She couldn't help but cry those same goddamn crystalline tears. She hated herself for being different and she hated herself for lying to the Winchesters. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, wondering how long she was going to keep lying to the only people trying to keep her safe.


	9. Chapter 9

**On the Road Again**

Sam's head kept flopping back, despite Dean blasting The Chambers Brothers at him, or maybe it was because of the loud music that he slept so easily. They had been on the road for nearly seven hours that day already. Lexi was passed out in the backseat, curled up with one of the boys' duffle bags. Dean yawned and realized he was getting tired. He whacked Sam in the chest with the back of his hand.

"Sammy, wake up. Dude, Mexican or… not Mexican?" Dean said before he could even think.

"Mexican, for sure," Sam responded, tacos sounded like the greatest idea since TiVo to him.

"Goddamnit," Dean said, hitting the wheel, regretting even mentioning Mexican. He had seen a sign for some family Mexican restaurant and thought it sounded absolutely delicious, his stomach had grumbled right on cue too. So without thinking, he had decided it was time to stop for food. He forgot about Sam's toxicity after ingesting burritos. But now it was too late.

"What? It was your idea," Sam responded.

"Yeah… I know," Dean said as he pulled off the highway, taking the exit that was on the sign for Casa del Sol. "I'm so fucking stupid sometimes."

Sam laughed as he reached back and grabbed Lexi's barefoot. He shook it gently and said, "Lexi, wake up, we're getting some… what is this lunch?"

"Naw, after 4:30 makes it dinner," Dean answered him.

"What time is it?" Lexi asked as she yawned and rolled over.

"Mm, just about 5. And Sam, you got a nap, you're taking over driving when we're done with dinner," Dean said.

"Yeah alright," Sam responded apathetically.

"Excellent," Dean said, pulling into the parking lot of the green and tan building. "That means I get to do tequila shots."

"Wait, what?" Sam called as Dean hopped out of his Impala excitedly. "No! No that is not what that means!"

Lexi exited the car last and stood right next to it for a few minutes before Dean walked back out of the restaurant.

"You forgot to lock it," Lexi stated simply.

"Good call," Dean responded, patting her on the head and locking his car. "I can't believe I forgot to lock my baby."

They both stood there for a second, Lexi bouncing on the balls of her feet. It was getting more and more awkward by the second.

"About the other night," They both started to say at the same time.

"You first," Again, they echoed each other.

They stood in silence for a moment before both speaking at the same time again.

"I'm sorry," Dean rushed out.

"I liked it," Lexi said just as quickly.

They stood in awkward silence again. Lexi wasn't sure why she didn't just scamper inside, but something kept her feet glued to the pavement.

And then something grabbed her.

And suddenly she was, once again, entangled with Dean. How did this keep happening? She responded warmly to him. Yes she enjoyed it, but damn if she didn't feel dirty right then. If she was honest with herself she would have to admit that everything about this was wrong. Not only the age difference, and subsequent law breaking, but the fact of the matter was she didn't really feel anything romantic for Dean. Yes he was attractive and yes she liked being on the road with him but…

"Jesus FUCKING CHRIST DEAN!" Someone screamed, oh who were they kidding? Neither Dean nor Lexi had to look to know it was Sam. Lexi jumped away from Dean and let out a high-pitched shriek. Dean spun around so fast he almost fell over his own feet.

"What in the HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Sam yelled at his older brother, under any other circumstances Lexi would have found that amusing.

"Hey Hey! Why are you jumping down MY throat, for all you know she could have come on to me!" Dean said in his defense.

Sam pursed his lips and gave Dean his signature bitchface.

"Ok, so I sort of came on to her," Dean said to the ground.

"I… I'm sorry?" Lexi chimed in. "It… it won't happen again?"

"That so does not make ANYTHING better!" Sam growled at her. "Get… in…side."

Lexi scuttled into the restaurant with her head hung low. She mumbled something about a table for the three to the host, who barely spoke English, and followed him to a table. She sat down on the side of the booth he set for one person; the boys could sit next to each other this time. She sat by herself for a while. She ordered an ice water with lime and had a staring contest with the complimentary chips and salsa the waiter brought. She eventually ate one chip, overloaded with the chunky salsa, and pushed the rest away.

After nearly twenty minutes the boys finally came inside. At first they couldn't find her, she was sunk so low in the booth, but eventually they meandered their way over to the right table. She managed to slide just a little lower in her seat but shot back up immediately when her knee bumped into someone else. She didn't know who and at the moment it didn't matter. They were getting looks from all over the restaurant. Lexi wasn't sure if it was because people had heard the Winchesters arguing, seen Dean kissing her, or just knew how wrong it was that this 16-year-old girl was there with two much older men.

She could swear she heard crickets chirping. She didn't, of course; all she was hearing were the tables around them. The boys sat absolutely stone silent. Sam looked slightly more satisfied with himself than Dean, but all in all they looked like two little kids that had just gotten in a fight over their favourite toy and ended up breaking it.

"Um," Lexi started to apologize again.

"Just…no," Sam grumbled, staring out the window.

Lexi snapped her mouth shut and the three of them sat in complete silence until the waiter returned. Sam ordered the biggest, beaniest, pepper-filled burrito on the menu, much to Dean's dismay. Yes, it was his form of revenge. Dean got the largest order of steak tacos they had and an order of nachos. Lexi stumbled her way through ordering some tamales and then the table returned to silence.

"Okay, seriously we cannot go the rest of this trip in silence. I admitted I fucked up. Lexi was obviously just dumbstruck by my awesomeness, and Sam you were the reasoning in the situation, like always. Sort of. Except for when I have to keep you in line. ANYWAY! The point is it's done and over and we should just move on," Dean said, rather longwindedly.

"Um, I don't know about you but… It's going to take me a minute to pretend like it never happened," Lexi whispered meekly.

"Oh it so happened, and I am STILL mad at you… both of you… for it," Sam snarled.

Lexi kept her mouth shut. The waiter returned with drinks for the boys and a refill for her.

"Ah, actually, you know what Paco? I need a margarita and a couple shots of tequila," Dean said, inventing a name for their waiter.

"Anything for the other gentleman or the lady?" Paco returned, clearly trying to get an up sell.

"No thanks," Sam answered for the both of them, "I'm driving and," He turned to Dean to finish his sentence, "She's underage."

Paco, or whatever his name really was, clearly sensed the tension and practically disappeared from their table. Silence hung over them like fog in a valley. Lexi couldn't believe she was going to be the one to attempt to break the ice this time.

"Look, Sam," She started to whisper, "I'm sorry. I know… that uh… that it was wrong. It won't happen again. You've got to believe me, but you can't go on being angry like this…" Lexi's voice trailed off. She had no real defense.

"It's not like you've never done anything wrong," Dean chimed in. "Mr. I'll Trust a Demon and Break the Last Seal."

"Oh this coming from you, you broke the first one!" Sam retorted.

"I didn't know what I was doing!" Dean answered.

"Neither did I! And at least I've never… ok well, at least I haven't… ok maybe I have but at least I haven't…. I was never a wanted fel-…Damnit," Sam finished.

"See Sammy? We all fuck up," Dean paused as two shots of tequila and a margarita were set on the table in front of him. "You won this one ok? So just… be happy about that and get the fuck over it."

Dean slammed back one of his shots.

Sam opened his mouth a few times but clearly couldn't think of anything to say.

"Nachos," Lexi said pointing behind Dean as Paco… or Juan or Jose or Miguel, brought Dean his nachos.

"Excellent," Dean grinned and rubbed his palms together before diving face first into his nachos.

Sam fought the smile he almost cracked and quickly snatched a chip from Dean.

"Hey! If you wanted nachos, you should have ordered your own!" Dean chided his little brother.

"Can I have one?" Lexi asked.

Dean quickly scooted his plate towards her, "Here sweetheart, have as many as you like."

"What?" Sam asked, offended.

"She hasn't yelled at me today," Dean said, not sticking out his tongue, even if he wanted to.

"That is such bullshit. I'm your brother!" Sam retorted.

Eventually Dean caved and the three of them wolfed down the nachos. Lexi even managed to, extremely slowly, make her way through half her entrée. Dean had a couple more shots of tequila and another margarita. It was actually his goal to fall asleep in the car for the rest of the ride; he didn't want to be conscious for that car ride with Sam's toxic ass.

"Well I'm going to get some fresh air, Dean you stay here, pay the bill," Sam said shoving his plate away.

"What? Whyyyyy meeeeee?" Dean responded drunkenly.

"Because you drank the most, so you're paying," Sam answered as he hopped up and grabbed Lexi's hand.

"Oh…mm… can't argue withat," Dean said, slightly slurring his words.

Sam pulled Lexi outside quickly; he wanted to talk to her without Dean for a few minutes.

"Thank you," Sam started.

"I… what, why?" Lexi questioned, confused.

"For actually eating without getting sick," Sam answered.

"Oh… I… uh… yeah. I told you I would try," Lexi's eyes were fixed on the pavement. Sam slipped his finger under her chin and turned her face upwards.

"Whatever it is that you think you need to be punished for, you don't," Sam said almost out of the blue.

"I… I don't… I don't know what you mean," Lexi stuttered.

"Look, maybe the doe eyes and innocence work on Dean, but I'm not Dean and I'm not dumb Lex. You've been wreaking hell on your body for I don't know how long; it's not for no reason. Obviously you think you deserve to be punished, and you don't," Sam started to say, but Lexi interrupted him.

"No offense Sam, but you guys don't really know me. How would you know if I deserve it or not?" Lexi asked.

"Because Lex," Sam started but cut himself short as Dean stumbled out of Casa del Sol.

"Izza party out here guys?" Dean asked as he headed for his Impala. Sam quickly steered him around the car to the passenger side.

Lexi slid into the backseat as Sam took the wheel. He looked over his map for a minute since Dean was going to be a shit navigator. Sam paused and looked in the rearview mirror.

"Do you want to be my navigator Lex?" Sam asked, holding the map towards the backseat.

"Yeah sure, where are we going?" She said, taking the map from him.

"Ah well once we get back on the highway, I think we're pretty much just going until we get to Sacramento, we're not too far. Just try not to fall asleep on me okay?" Sam asked.

"…Dude… seriously, that's nauseating," Dean said as he curled up in a ball in his seat, turning away from Sam.

"Wha-Oh for the love of Pete, Sam!" Lexi hollered and covered her nose.

Sam blushed and smiled in a pathetic attempt to fight off his embarrassment. "Sorry guys. Actually you know what, no I'm not. Dean quit making out with jailbait!"

"Like you wouldn't if you had the chance," Dean grumbled, halfway drifting into sleep.

Sam and Lexi rode in near silence for the rest of the trip.

Maybe Dean was more perceptive than he got credit for.

* * *

Author's Note:: Sorry the last few chapters have been so short and lacking in horror and action. This is the down time in the story, where things get to be relaxed. I'm trying to pump out these chapters as quickly as possible so we can move along to the action again. I promise, dear readers, it is about to pick up and all will be answered... in time. Wouldn't be very suspenseful if I spilled all the beans now, would it?


	10. Chapter 10

**Sacramento, California**

Sam and Dean were dressed in their finest FBI livery. They were parked outside of a small ranch style home in a quaint neighborhood on the outskirts of Sacramento. This was allegedly where Michael Rosemont had been staying since he had been found. His aunt had a light blue Prius in the driveway. It was warm, even for California, despite the fact that it was November. Dean fished a couple of fake IDs out of the glove box.

"Lexi, stay here, for now. Here," Dean passed his cell phone back to her. "If you need us, just call Sam."

"Ok," Lexi said.

"Ah shit…" Dean rumbled and got out of the car, going around to the trunk. He came back around the car to Lexi's window. "Do you know how to work one of these?" He asked, holding a pistol out to her.

"Um… no," Lexi whimpered.

"Damnit," Dean said, he put the gun back in the trunk and returned with a knife that had damn near a twelve inch blade. "This?"

"Sure," Lexi said nervously and nodded. Dean handed her the knife and knocked on the roof of the Impala. Sam slid out but left the keys in the car.

"If you have to… take off, the keys are in the ignition. And feel free to change the music," He added, giving Dean a sly glance.

Lexi watched the two boys, men she corrected herself, walk up to the front door and knock. They were greeted by a slender, somewhat Janis Joplin-esque woman and were inside quickly. Lexi sighed and reached into the front seat. She clicked through the radio stations and stopped when she came to one playing "I Wanna" by the All-American Rejects. She bopped her head to the beat and sang along in a pleasing second soprano. She sprawled out in the backseat and closed her eyes. Her fingers absentmindedly traced the scars along her stomach. She jumped when she heard a banging on the roof.

"You're up sport," Dean said, he was leaning in the open window.

"Couldn't get him to talk?" Lexi asked as she slid out of the car. She adjusted the white belt that was holding her pants up and brushed her blue halter-top down. She loved warm weather, and she wouldn't be bothered if she never had to go back to Illinois, where it was almost always too cold.

"Not a peep. He's just staring out the window like a freak," Dean said as he followed Lexi to the front door. He pulled the door open for her and followed her inside.

Sam was sitting on an overstuffed blue couch in the living room, across from a young boy in an armchair, and the woman that answered the door was in a hammock by the window. Lexi loved California: it was official.

"Michael, this is our friend Lexi," Sam introduced her as she walked in the room. She took the seat next to him and Dean next to her to complete the Winchester sandwich. Michael's attention immediately snapped to Lexi.

"She uh, she knows what you've been through Mike," Dean added.

Lexi nodded and tried to fight the blush rising to her cheeks. "Yeah, I do… How… how did you get away? These two saved me…"

Michael didn't respond. His eyes averted to his aunt then back out the window.

"If you don't mind Ms. Rosemont, could you give us a minute?" Lexi asked politely.

"Yes of course," Clarice, his aunt, responded. "Would you perhaps like me to make y'all some tea?"

Lexi was surprised when the woman spoke with a Southern accent, but she nodded and Clarice sauntered out of the living room. Lexi immediately hopped up and scurried over to Michael. She crouched down in front of him.

"It was demons, right? It wasn't humans that took you," Lexi said. Michael's eyes widened but he wouldn't look at her.

"They did horrible things to you, didn't they? They wanted you to kill someone didn't they?" Lexi continued.

Still Michael did not answer.

"They wanted me to kill my sister, but I wouldn't, I couldn't. I-I didn't know…" Lexi started to choke up and cry.

Michael finally looked down at her.

"They killed her themselves and then they locked me back up and beat me and and…" Lexi stuttered but couldn't speak through her sobs.

Michael moved down to the floor to sit next to her and finally, he spoke, quietly "I'm sorry. Didn't you get your revenge?"

Lexi opened her eyes and looked up at him, "What?"

"If they kidnapped you… it must have been for a reason. Why didn't you just burn them all to the ground?" Michael asked in a hoarse whisper.

"You mean like you did?" Sam asked. Michael pretended not to hear him.

"I-I don't know what you… They had me tied up the whole time, how could I…" Lexi rambled.

"The same way I did," Michael responded. "After they killed my family…I just lost it."

"So you… you're the one that burnt the old farm down?" Lexi questioned.

"Yes. So…why did they kidnap you then?" Michael asked her.

"I don't know, I was going to ask you that," Lexi responded.

"They wanted to recruit me, they wanted me at their disposal. I'm different, not like other kids," Michael said as if it were obvious.

"So… you're… an elemental, aren't you? You manipulate fire? I mean I've heard of them, but we've never come across any…" Sam said astounded.

"So, what Sam, you think all these kids were? Then why did they take the whole family?" Dean asked.

"As a test…" Lexi responded, her voice sounded hollow.

"Do you know anything else about the demons Michael? Did you hear any names or maybe who hired them?" Sam pressed his line of questioning.

"No, no not really, nothing I can remember. It's all kind of… blurry. I think I was drugged at some point," The young fire starter said.

"And you haven't caught any wind of them since? Nothing weird has been going on or anything?" Sam continued.

"No, I'm guessing burning them all to dust probably got my message across," Michael answered.

"Or they found another fire elemental. Has anyone gone missing since this kid turned back up?" Dean asked his "partner."

"Yeah, I mean even Lexi got nabbed since then, it could be any of them. Could be none of them…" Sam trailed off.

"I think we've got all we need Michael. Thank you and here," Dean handed the boy a card, "If you get into any… trouble, call us."

Dean shooed his pensive brother and the slightly hysterical Lexi out of the house and back into the Impala.

"So why have they taken twelve kids? How many kinds of elementals are there?" Dean asked.

Sam's brow was furrowed in concentration, "Well there's fire, water, air, and earth; those are the obvious ones."

"So what they need three of each?" Dean asked perplexed.

"No… two. Light and Dark," Sam answered.

"So they need two kids of each? Why?" Dean asked.

"I… I don't know," Sam was still confused. "Let's get back to the motel, call Bobby, and check Dad's journal."

"Do research?" Dean summarized for him. "You know that's your department Sam."

"Fine, I'll do the research, you call around." Sam said as Dean started his car and headed for their motel room.

* * *

They had opted for two beds instead of a suite this time, mostly to save money. Dean and Sam intended to alternate who slept on the couch if they were in town too long. Sam had his laptop and their father's journal out and was researching the elementals; Dean was on the horn with Ellen, Bobby, Tamara, and any other hunter he could think of. Lexi was taking a miraculously long shower.

"Alright," Sam started as Dean hung up the phone, "So most of these are pretty basic. They manipulate whatever element they are tied to. But the light and dark elementals… There's a few different kinds of those. I guess 'night' elementals as they are called manipulate darkness, the absence of light, but these 'shadow' elementals manipulate the darkness in people. They can bring the darkest side of a person to the surface, even if it's something they had never acted on before."

"Well… that's kind of fucked up," Dean responded, a little dumbstruck.

"Yeah and there are the light elementals too. I guess one branch is typically called 'novas,' they can pretty much create and disperse starlight. And then there's the 'daylight' elementals which, yeah, manipulate the goodness in people I guess." Sam elaborated.

"That's kind of fucked up too," Dean reiterated.

"And," Sam opened their father's journal and flipped to a page with demonic rituals on it, "There's this ritual in Dad's journal. Something about a pentagram and gathering all six…"

"What do you mean something about a pentagram and gathering all six? What the hell kind of ritual is it Sam?" Dean snatched the journal from Sam and looked it over. "Oh… Dad didn't even know."

"Yeah that's the thing about demonic rituals Dean, if a demon doesn't tell you and you don't do it, you won't know what it is," Sam said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah yeah. So what they want six for the ritual and six for…" Dean's brain was ready to call it a day.

"I don't know, maybe the want a set for each type of light and dark?" Sam said as the bathroom door creaked open.

Lexi came out in navy blue cargos and a grayish shirt with some kind of silver decal on the back. She had a towel in her hand and was attempting to dry her hair. Not that it mattered to either of the Winchesters, but she was completely lost without her straightening iron. Her hair was already curling up into tendrils and she couldn't stand it.

"Ummm, please stop looking at me like that," Lexi whimpered.

"Not until you tell us the truth, Lex," Sam said, pushing the chair next to him out for her to sit in.

"I-I do-don't know wh-what you want me…to…" Lexi sighed and tried very hard not to cry.

"We want the truth Alexandria," Dean said, trying to come off authoritative but it just didn't work considering he had a giant Blow Pop in his mouth.

"I… I don't," Lexi started again, but her breath caught in her throat when Sam grabbed her shoulders.

"Lexi, stop it! It's so freaking OBVIOUS that you're an elemental," Sam said, frustrated.

"No, I mean, how do you know that Michael kid wasn't an accident? Maybe they weren't looking for…elementals, maybe that's why he got away, maybe," Lexi wasn't even listening to herself anymore. In fact, she was hyperventilating a little bit.

"Please Lexi just…breathe," Dean said calmly. "Look, it's okay if… you're a freak. I mean… you're kind of a freak anyway, even without being an elemental. And besides...dude... I KNEW you were glowing!"

Sam wanted to ask Dean why he had never mentioned that before but decided to save it for another time. Lexi was in full-blown sob mode now. Sam noticed the small crystals clinking to the floor that used to be her tears. He leaned forward and picked one up. They were small and some were even teardrop shaped. This girl was just full of surprises.

"Sam's a freak too, he has like uh… premonitions," Dean kept talking.

Sam give him a rather bitchy glare before turning his attention back to Lexi, "Look," He said, opening his palm and showing her the crystals in his hand, "These mean you're not normal. And that's okay, so just tell us the truth Lexi." Sam set the small crystals on the table before leaning forward and brushing the tears from her face.

"No… you'll hate me, just like everyone else. You'll lock me away just like my parents did. Or worse! You're hunters, you'll probably just kill me!" Lexi continued crying.

Dean and Sam exchanged on of those all knowing looks that brothers so often have. Dean moved behind Lexi and put his hands on her shoulders. "I promise I won't let Sammy kill you."

Lexi stuttered but didn't really manage to say anything.

"Lexi, please," Sam said, giving her those beautiful hazel puppy dog eyes.

"Oh god oh god oh god, please don't look at me like that Sam," She looked away but her eyes seemed drawn back to his. "Oh fine."


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Warning:: So let me just remind you not only is this story classified as horror/romance it is also rated M (mostly just to be safe, I'm not sure if it deserves M, though it probably will someday). So dearest readers, after 10 chapters, we finally get to Lexi's backstory. This chapter contains some... oh... we'll call it brief gore. Yes. And maybe a smidge, just a smidge, of romance.

Anyway! Fluff readers aside, enjoy what is probably my favourite chapter so far!

* * *

**7 Years Ago: Aurora, Illinois**

Even for Illinois, even for March, it was cold that day. So cold, the kids at the bus stop all had their winter coats on. The skies were gray, overcast. It looked like rain but it didn't feel like rain and it didn't smell like rain. There were two little girls, one little boy, and one mother waiting for a school bus. None of the children were much older than 8. An old faded yellow bus rumbled around the corner slowly. The mother, the only one not wearing a puffy winter coat, bent down and kissed the boy and his sister on the cheek.

The siblings scurried on to the bus quickly, the other girl took her sweet time climbing the steps and taking her seat near the front, alone. She wondered why her mother didn't walk her to the bus stop. She wondered why she was always alone. No one knew it then, but there was a darkness brewing inside her. Under those wide brown eyes and golden tresses, hatred was hardening in her heart. Caitlyn was slowly becoming a victim of nurture. Loneliness turning to jealousy turning to rage.

Lexi and her brother Kyle took a seat closer to the back, near the other kids. It was a picture perfect snapshot of childhood. Girls playing patty cake, boys with their little army men, and the one kid with glasses reading. Everything seemed so normal. How could an 9-year-old girl know that this would be the last day of freedom? Of childhood?

When the bus pulled into the lot at school the kids scampered out and found their homeroom teachers. Lexi split off from Kyle; being a year younger than her he had a different homeroom. Caitlyn, along with about 15 other students, joined Lexi near a small round woman of about 30 with a black bob cut and vibrant green eyes. She went by the name of Mrs. Mary because asking a bunch of 8 and 9-year-olds to pronounce Wapinski seemed a little unnecessary to her. She hustled all the kids indoors for fear of rain, and because she had plum forgotten her coat inside even though it was so damn cold out.

The children always started their day with spelling, which Lexi excelled at. Spelling was always followed by math, which Lexi did far worse in, but she wasn't quite failing it either. She grumbled and flubbed her way through a pop quiz, which was really just filling in a timetable. Once they had finished with their quiz, Mrs. Mary gave them a short assignment for the night and they moved on to Lexi's second favourite class, Art. It wasn't just plain old fashion art; it was more of a free form class. Some kids were drawing, some were painting, some were playing with play doh, some were writing, and some were just… expressing themselves. Lexi was sitting at a short round table in the middle with an array of coloured pencils splayed out in front of her. She was drawing something that almost resembled a horse. She laid her pencils down occasionally to talk to her friends or simply to consider precisely what shade of blue the horse's, it was a horse right? eye should be.

Art went by quickly enough and faded into lunch. Lexi got excited as all hell when it turned out to be chicken nugget day. She took her share and even made her friend Amber, who had brought a lunch, wait in line for another helping of nuggets. Lexi and Amber sat at a table with at least ten other kids for their lunch period. A few grapes were thrown, pudding was traded for cookies, and bananas were sacrificed by children who hated fruit to children who were still hungry.

After lunch came recess, most of the kids' favourite time of day. Lexi started on the swings with Amber and Kyle, her sister Cassie was already in fifth grade so she attended a different school now and they no longer had recess together. After only five or six minutes the children, as children are so wont to do, grew tired of the swings and moved on to a game of hide and seek. However, their playground was a little too exposed for this game to last terribly long.

Amber got a bucket of sidewalk chalk from the recess monitor and began drawing a hopscotch board on the pavement. She insisted on doing every box a different colour. While Lexi waited she hopped in the few boxes Amber had already drawn. Unfortunately, she was facing the wrong way to see what happened next.

Wssssssssssssssshhhhhhhh-thwack!

Something flew across the playground and beamed Lexi in the back of her pig-tailed head.

"Hey! That hurt!" She exclaimed turning around. Amber looked up at her, confused, and Kyle scurried behind her. Her eyes scanned the playground but she couldn't for certain pinpoint the attacker.

Lexi had a sneaking suspicion it was the blonde girl off to the side of the slide, standing by herself. The expression on her face flashed from anger to revelry when Lexi locked eyes with her, still rubbing the back of her head.

"Why'd you do that?" Lexi hollered across the playground.

"Because," Caitlyn responded, "You're a stuck up… BITCH!"

The bell rang right as Caitlyn started yelling and all the students rushed inside, not wanting detention for being late to return from recess. Lexi felt her little brother squeeze her hand as a particularly large cluster of children jostled her. She turned and ran inside with Kyle in tow.

After lunch Lexi split off from her brother to go to her choir class with Amber. She remembered that this was the beginning, when she realized how much she loved singing. They sang "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and "Danny Boy," going over some of the harder parts a few times with the less-gifted students. After Choir they had a very basic science class, doing the whole baking soda and vinegar experiment. Lexi and Amber, of course, made a huge fucking mess, which they had to stay late and clean up, making them miss the first ten minutes of gym.

Lexi's absolute favourite class was gym. There were two gym teachers for their grade, Coach Carson, who taught the more "masculine" games in gym: basketball, soccer, baseball, kickball, those sorts of things. The other teacher was Ms. LaFayette, who taught the more "feminine" activities: ballet, volleyball, even cheerleading. Each teacher would pick an activity for the day and the students would divide based on what they wanted to do.

About three days a week Ms. LaFayette instructed the girls in ballet. That was why it was Lexi's favourite class. They only did basic moves and none of the routines were very long, but it was good practice for her since she only had ballet lessons after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday. Not that Lexi was inclined to pray, but when she did, it was always for more ballet lessons. There was nothing, nothing, as exhilarating to her as flying across the stage in a jump. Except for maybe losing herself in the spins.

Today however was… ribbon dancing. Lexi shuddered and ran her short little legs over to Coach Carson's side of the gym for kickball. Most of the boys were nice enough to her, but there was a good handful that made fun of her. Calling her a "lezbean" behind Coach Carson's back as they all filed out the side door to play outside. She ended up nailing one of those boys in the face with the ball during the game. Thanks to all the ballet she had strong little legs.

Lexi shrugged as she trotted to first base, "Well that's what you get for standin' so far in the infield dumb dumb."

"Lezbean," The boy she had pegged said as he held his nose. Lexi just shrugged it off as she took her spot on first.

When the next person on her team kicked she made it to second and almost made it all the way to third but was forced out. Again, she just shrugged as she was jeered and returned to the dugout, also known as the sidewalk.

The game ended when the bell rang and the score was tied. The students filed back in the building and everyone returned to their homerooms for the last hour of their day. It was silent reading time. Most students attempted to get away with a nap. Lexi and Amber typically tried to see how long they could pass notes without getting caught. Today that only worked for about ten minutes, so Lexi actually set to reading her book pretty quickly. She was reading what was fast becoming her favourite book, and probably series, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. She managed to get through a chapter or so before 2:25 rolled around and most students were leaving. Lexi ran to her cubby and grabbed her little purple gym bag. Her face lit up as she ran down the hall. She met up with her brother outside his classroom and kissed his forehead.

"Are you going to wait in the gym today?" Lexi asked.

"I'm gonna go to the swing set till all the teachers leave, then I'll come wait in the gym for you, k?" Kyle said, his S's were whistling slightly because he was missing a front tooth. It was the first tooth he'd ever lost and he was damn proud.

"Okie dokie," Lexi said and sprinted down the hall to the gym

It was Wednesday afternoon ballet class. She practically squealed with excitement once she got into her pale blue leotard. Lexi languished that the class was only an hour long. They always spent the first fifteen minutes warming up. She was a little worried when her brother wasn't in the gym after they finished their warm ups, but if more kids were waiting for rides, the teachers would still be outside. Over the next fifteen minutes they went over a new move, today it was a jump, until everyone had it down. She was getting a little more concerned; Kyle still hadn't showed. Lexi told herself that some other kids were waiting longer than usual for their parents and Kyle would be in soon.

Over the last half hour the girls, and the one boy in their ballet class, went over the routine for their recital in two weeks. Whatever stress Lexi harboured as a kid melted away sometime during ballet. And before she knew it, the class was over. She ran back to the locker room to change into her school clothes before darting back out into the gym.

"Kyle?" She called. She knocked on the door to the boy's bathroom but got no response. She hesitated before opening the door and stepping inside. "Kyle?" He wasn't in there. Maybe he was already outside waiting in the car with their mother. That happened sometimes.

Lexi jogged all the way through the school and out the front door to the parking lot. She didn't notice anyone in the parking lot. Their mother must have been running a few minutes late, which happened from time to time; sometimes she got stuck at the bank for a few extra minutes.

That was about when Lexi heard a yelp. She looked over towards the dirt baseball diamond and saw two figures near home plate. She hesitated at first, but started walking over to see what was going on. As she got closer she began to realize that one figure was standing over the other. The closer she got the clearer it became that it was a girl kicking a little boy in the stomach.

"Hey! HEY! Leave him alone!" Lexi yelledand started running towards the scuffle.

The bully looked up and Lexi realized it was Caitlyn. Then she realized where her brother had been for so long.

Kyle's face was swollen and purple. He was covered in dirt and was now missing two teeth instead of just one. His fingertips were bloody and so was his nose.

"What do you think you're doing? Caitlyn! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lexi screamed, her little 9-year-old body ready to charge down the girl harassing her little brother.

"Make me!" Caitlyn said and slammed her foot into Kyle's gut. Lexi wasn't even sure he was conscious anymore.

"What's your problem?" Lexi's voice got louder the closer she got.

"You two are my problem! You think you're so much better than everyone else just cuz you got two parents and they love you!" Caitlyn screamed.

"I don't know what you mean, but leave my brother ALONE!" Lexi darted towards Caitlyn, ready to knock her to the ground.

But the angry little blonde swung her foot back and kicked out as Lexi got close, her foot connecting with the dark haired girl's jaw, sending her sprawling backwards onto the ground.

"You two are such BRATS! Someone needs to show you it's not all gumdrops and lollipops!" Caitlyn screamed.

"Leave him alone!" Lexi's body felt like it was on fire. She thought she might explode if she didn't get this girl off her brother. Her skin felt all tingly. Something weird was going on, she knew it. Deep down she felt something stirring, something on fire.

Caitlyn raised her foot above Kyle's head.

But it never landed, not on him anyway.

Lexi let out a high-pitched shriek that could probably shatter glass and everything weird and hot she felt inside seemed to explode out. She hadn't been wrong. She did explode. The diamond lit up with multi-coloured light. And when the light faded, Lexi was left standing in the middle of a scorched baseball field. She looked down where her brother should have been. He was gone, just a black scorch mark left. Caitlyn was gone too. The fence behind home plate was toppled back.

"K-K-Kyle? M-M-Mom?" Lexi stuttered, her eyes were filling with tears. She looked around.

Off to the side of the field was a small wooded area. Lexi had no idea if it was actually a forrest our just an outcropping of trees. But something about it caught her eye.

It took her young little brain a second to process what she was looking at.

Hanging from the lowest branch was what she could only assume was her brother's arm. It was his tiny little hand connected to his tiny little wrist connected to a scorched forearm ending in a tangled mass of muscle, bone, and tendons.

"Oh… oh god," Lexi fell to her knees.

Above his arm, hanging from another branch was his… his…

Lexi wretched on the ground in front of her.

Kyle's torso had been blown into pieces; the biggest surviving chunk was his collarbones, shoulders, neck and head. Bits of what Lexi could only figure to be lung or some other organ were falling from the half of his chest that was intact. She didn't want to see anymore. She didn't want to know where the rest of her little brother was.

At the base of the tree sat, sort of, Caitlyn. Her right arm was ripped off at the shoulder and god knew where that was. Her left leg was torn at the knee revealing ligaments and what a kneecap really looked like. Her calf and foot were laying a few feet behind her. But that wasn't the worst. From her throat to her naval she was blasted …well… open. Revealing a burnt rib cage that was barely housing her lungs and heart and whatever else was inside of a human. Lexi was certain she could see the back of Caitlyn's throat before her head threw itself forward and she heaved again.

She heard a horn honk somewhere in the distance. Then a car door slam. She wasn't sure if it had been 30 seconds, 5 minutes, or 6 hours before she heard the clip-clop of her mother's heels. She heard her mother pick up her pace. And finally, before she blacked out, she heard a scream.

* * *

"And when I came to, I was home, in my bed. I could hear my parents crying and trying to talk. Th-they said they couldn't let me go back to school. I guess officially the explosion was caused by a gas main bursting or something just as stupid. But my mom knew. She knew it was me. She knew there was something fucking WRONG with me. And now you know too," Lexi said, finishing her story.

Sam and Dean just looked speechless.

"That's why they started homeschooling me. That's why I barely ever leave the house anymore. That's why I haven't gone swimming, that's why… the demons want me I guess."

"Lexi…" Dean sighed; he had no words that could make any part of her story better. If Dean had killed Sam…no, he couldn't even let Sam die, let alone be the one to kill him.

"Hey," Sam tilted her chin up, "Lexi, you know it wasn't your fault? You were little, you had no control over your powers."

"I shouldn't have gotten so angry," Lexi's voice was hard. She was fighting back tears and almost winning for once.

"No, if I could explode, I would have too if someone was hurting Sammy that badly," Dean said as he sauntered over to their mini-fridge. He grabbed a bud light out of it and walked back towards Lexi.

"I mean, I'm not saying that little girl deserved it, but you gotta stop beating yourself up about something that happened seven years ago," Sam told her as he took the beer from Dean. He twisted the cap off and held it out to Lexi.

She tentatively laid her fingers around the neck for a moment before pulling it out of Sam's hand and taking a swig. She shuddered, it was truly awful, but took another gulp.

"So you're a nova or whatever then?" Dean asked.

"Um, what?" Lexi responded with a completely clueless expression that Sam actually found adorable.

"You… you manipulate light. That explosion you caused, that was pretty much, wow this is going to sound dumb, starlight. Basically combusted gases, but really really combustible gases that burn as intense as…well... the sun," Sam explained to her.

Lexi's eyes widened and she thought she just might faint. She took another drink of the horrible brown brew in her hand.

"So… that's why you've been doing this to yourself?" Sam said, rubbing his thumb along one of the freshest cuts on her arm.

"It… it helps keep my anger in check. And I mean… someone needs to… I don't know; rebuke me, for what I did. Why not me?" Lexi reasoned. Dean thought it _almost_ sounded logical, shit he felt that way sometimes, but it just didn't quite sound right.

"No, Lexi, no one does," Sam started but was quickly interrupted by his brother.

"Look, this whole emotional talking crap is Sam's deal, so I'm going to get a hold of Bobby, tell him what we've found. Do some digging around," Dean said before grabbing his jacket and cell phone as he walked out of the room.

"So this is why you don't eat either?" Sam asked her quietly.

"Well, I figure, if my body is weak, maybe m-m-my powers, as you put it, would be too? And I mean… I killed two little kids! Killed them! With a thought, an emotion; in an instant I DESTROYED them!" Lexi was getting hysterical; tears were slowly falling from her face, landing in small crystals on the floor. Sam thought that was such a weird ass side effect.

He grabbed her shoulders with just enough force to keep her still but without hurting her, "Lexi, calm down. Listen to me. What happened was not your fault. If you were trained, if you KNEW how to control your powers, it wouldn't have happened, alright? Please, you've got to forgive yourself for this. I'm sure Kyle has and I'm sure that's what he'd want you to do."

"I, I just… I can't. It's my fault," Lexi stammered.

"Look, when I… before I knew… The first vision I ever had… was of my girlfriend, Jess, dying in the exact same way my mother died. And you know what I did? I ignored it. I left town with Dean. I didn't believe it. And you know what happened?"

Lexi just nodded.

"Yeah, she died. Just like I dreamed she would. I beat myself up for months about it. It took me almost a year to even think about opening up to another girl. But… Dean was right for once. It wasn't my fault. How could I have known? And it's not your fault Lexi. You didn't want it to happen, you didn't try to make it happen. It just happened and there isn't anything you could have done to stop it," Sam brushed the hair out of her face and cupped her cheek. He looked her straight in the eyes with the best pleading puppy dog eyes he thought he had ever mustered up.

"I could have… I… Sam, please don't try to convince me that I'm not some kind of evil freak of nature, because I am and I know it. My whole family knows it. Everyone I've ever met knows that I am… wrong… that I should be dead. They just can't bring themselves to do it," Lexi whispered.

"And what does that make me?" Sam asked, his face hardening into a mask of anger, or maybe it was just frustration.

"No Sam… you're just a psychic, you have visions. You haven't hurt anyone," Lexi said, sounding like she was begging him to believe her.

"You have no idea how many people I've killed. How much wrong I have done by mistake. But I don't let it ruin me, and I won't let it ruin you either," Sam stated. He was not going to leave her a choice in the matter.

"Sam, please. I don't deserve this, what you and your brother have done for me. Just take me back to the seclusion I came from before I hurt you guys too," Lexi begged.

Sam was tempted to just say fuck it and take her home right then and there. If this girl didn't want to be helped then fine. If she was so hell bent on hating herself and taking the fucking pussy way out, let her. He didn't need her around reminding him that deep down there was something wrong with him too.

Sam was tempted, but he didn't.

What he did do was scoop her up so fast she didn't know what the hell hit her.

"Sam…" Lexi whispered, she had no idea what else to say, but Sam didn't give her a chance anyway.

His lips smashed into hers so hard she thought she'd have a fat lip in the morning. Sam's kiss was completely different from Dean's. Dean was peaceful, relaxed, and just very in the moment, simple almost. Sam was passionate, strong, and very must have this _right now! _He kissed like there'd never be another kiss again in the world. Lexi thought the room might catch on fire and if they burned up with it, that'd be just fine. She could feel her pulse over every inch of her body. Sam tightened his hold on her as she finally found the rhythm his lips were moving to. He practically fell back onto the bed with her in his arms.

Lexi somehow managed to find the strength to pull her lips away from his, even though that was the last thing she ever wanted to do. Even though it felt like a part of her was ripping out of her chest when she pulled away from him.

"Um, Sam," Lexi panted, he had literally taken her breath away.

"Yeah, I know, I'm a fucking hypocrite," Sam said before cradling her head in his hands and meeting her lips with his again.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sacramento, California**

"Alright Sam, I talked to Bobby and he said-," Dean's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "ARE YOU FUCKIN' SHITTIN' ME!"

Dean bent over and scooped his jaw up off the floor. Sam had made some major mistakes in his life, but this… Sam had gotten on Dean's back about a lot of the things he had done, only to one day turn around and do the same. But this…

"Sammy! Wake the FUCK up!" Dean snarled, whipping his leather jacket at his brother's face.

"Wh-What? Dean chill ou-oh," Sam's mouth froze in a perfect _o_ shape as he became more aware of his situation.

He was snoozing away on the bed. He was sprawled out on his back, his arm was wrapped around Lexi, holding her against his side. Her head was resting on his chest when Dean walked in. Though now she was stirring. She rolled over onto her stomach and buried her head under one of the red throw pillows. Neither Sam nor Dean could say if she was awake or asleep.

"Look before you go freaking out-," Sam started, trying to reason with his brother.

"I'm not going to FREAK OUT!" Dean said, sounding very similar to freaked out.

"Dude, if you want to freak out I understand," Sam admitted.

"I'M NOT GOING TO FREAK OUT SAM!" Dean yelled that time.

Lexi groaned under her pillow. Maybe she was awake.

"I'm sor-," Sam started but Dean cut him off again.

"I'm not fucking freaking out Sam," Dean said, his voice dropping to a low angry whisper. "I just can't fucking believe you yelled at me like I was horny teenager, which if I was we wouldn't have had a problem, but fuck! You were screaming at me for something that wasn't nearly as bad as this!"

"I…yeah… well…" Sam stuttered, defenseless.

"Yeah, you got nothing Sammy," Dean growled quietly.

"I got 4 years under you," Sam said, looking ashamed.

"And you got 10 years on her!" Dean retaliated.

"I…yeah… I know. I…I'm sorry," Sam sighed and flopped back on the bed.

"Not as sorry as you're going to be once this job is over," Dean whispered, furious.

Sam snapped up, "Oh my god Dean…I didn't even…"

"Think? Yeah, you know you're really good about thinking when it's not all that fucking important. But then you go and do something completely stupid, like Ruby! And this!" Dean growled.

Sam adjusted the collar of his shirt, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. The jacket and tie he had been wearing earlier were on the floor, but other than that both himself and Lexi were still fully clothed. His hair was sticking out all over the place and Lexi's, currently buried under her pillow, was a tangled mess.

"I…It's going to," Sam, for possibly the first time in his life, was at a complete loss for words because of his own damn foolishness.

"You're-," Dean started to chastise his brother again.

"We. You made a move on her too. We are going to crush her little heart," Sam started pacing their room.

"Oh shit Sammy… what have we done?" Dean said, once again his jaw was on the floor.

"What did you guys do?" Lexi yawned and rolled onto her back. Sam grinned a little when he saw a small purple hickey just under the collar of her shirt.

"We uh, nothing," Dean said quickly.

"Nice recovery," Sam said rolling his eyes.

Lexi looked at from Sam to Dean and then turned a vibrant shade of red before hiding under the covers, "This is so awkward now."

Sam didn't even realize his hand was sliding under the blanket until his fingers wrapped around Lexi's. "Sorry," He whispered.

Dean's eyes shifted nervously before he decided to completely blow the topic off, "So I talked to Bobby."

"And?" Sam responded, glad to ignore the subject.

"He said an entire family just went missing from freakin' Idaho, the town was overwhelmed with demonic omens at the time too," Dean elaborated.

"You think the demons are trying to replace Michael or Lexi?" Sam asked.

"No I think they just want to sit down to tea and have a nice chat. Of course they're replacing the kids that got away!" Dean stated furiously.

"So we're going to Idaho?" Lexi asked cluelessly.

"I think we should take you home," Dean said, "We shouldn't bring you right back to the demons."

"Dean," Sam said softly, but he didn't get a chance to finish.

"What home?" Lexi whispered as she sat up, pulling her hand away from Sam's.

"Well we should at least take you somewhere safe," Dean replied, sounding grumpy. "Taking you with us will just put you in harm's way."

"That's not fair!" Lexi protested.

"Dean's got a point, I don't want you to get hurt either," Sam muttered softly.

"No! You can't just drop me somewhere like a little kid at a babysitter's!" Lexi hollered.

"Lexi, you are a kid," Dean answered coldly.

Lexi opened her mouth and closed it rapidly. For the first time in years she was angry with someone beside herself. For once she didn't want to be passive; she wanted to scream at the Winchesters. She fought the urge to throw something across the room. She wasn't going to let them toy with her heart and then just ditch her.

She started getting that tingling-burning sensation in the pit of her stomach and she remembered why she was always so passive. She remembered why she always snuffed her anger out.

"Um, Lex, you're glowing," Sam said.

Her skin did indeed have a soft white sheen to it. It was as if, somewhere, under all her layers of skin, there was a dim light. Sam thought the word for it was radiant.

Lexi threw the covers off and pushed past Dean. Before either of them could react the door slammed and she was gone.

"Did she just storm out on us?" Dean stuck his thumb out at the door.

"Yeah she did," Sam responded, already on his feet. "Stay here," He said before heading outside.

Lexi was sprawled out on her back in the grass. As Sam got close he could hear her crying softly. He barely considered the welfare of his suit before sitting down in the grass next to her.

"Lexi," Sam said quietly.

"It's not fair, you can't just make me fall for you and then ditch me," Lexi whimpered through her crystalline tears.

"We're not trying to ditch you, we're trying to keep you safe," Sam said, wiping the tears off her face.

"Ok, and after this hunt, then what? Where will I go?" Lexi rolled onto her stomach and started crying harder.

"Lex, we'll take you home once we know it's safe there," Sam rubbed her back.

"Sam, my family is fucking DEAD and there's no point denying it!" Lexi screamed into the ground.

Sam sighed. Ever since they rescued her he had assumed her family was dead, just like the rest of the families that disappeared. But for her sake, he had tried to keep hoping they were out there somewhere, alive if not well. But now that she was ready to admit they were almost definitely gone, Sam could admit it too.

"Lexi, I-I'm sorry. I've lost…everyone except Dean, so I almost understand how much pain you're in. I just wish there was something I could do to make any of this better…" Sam sighed and leaned over. He brushed her hair over her shoulder and kissed the back of her neck.

"Don't leave me…" Lexi whispered and sat up on her knees.

Sam sighed and wrapped his arms around her, "Alright, let's talk to Dean."

* * *

Dean sighed as he stared out at the road. He was glad Sam was still sitting up front with him, even if they were both completely silent. Dean reached over and turned up his cassette player, maybe one of these days he'd upgrade to CDs, maybe. His eyes flicked to his rearview mirror and the girl in the backseat. Dean scolded himself, again, for being such a goddamn softie. He'd really let his little brother talk him into bringing a civilian, sure an explosive civilian but still a civilian, with them, probably into a demonic lair. _Oh that sounds ominous,_ Dean thought, _demonic lair._

In all actuality, Sam was right. Lexi really didn't have anywhere to go. Her family was more than likely dead. And, according to her, ever since Kyle's death, even her extended family had ostracized her immediate family. They couldn't take her to the police, or they were likely to be arrested. Dean could only imagine how hellish being thrown into the foster care system at the age of 16 would be. Truth be told, Lexi was well on her way to…

"Thank you, Dean, for letting me come with you," Lexi whispered from the backseat.

"You can thank me by not getting killed, alright kiddo?" Dean said with a rather coy grin.

"Okie dokie," Lexi answered him, sounding happier than she had since they had decided to leave Sacramento.

"So what's the plan Sam?" Dean asked, turning his attention to his little, well bigger, brother.

"Once we get to Idaho, we get a room, then I say we go check out the house this family disappeared from. Might be a trail or something," Sam responded.

"No, I mean what do we do with her? We can't just leave her in a motel by herself, but she can't tag along with us while we try to wrangle up some demons either," Dean retorted.

"Take me with you," Lexi answered, even though they were both ignoring her.

Dean bit his tongue. At best, Lexi would probably blow them all to smithereens. That was not the kind of help Dean was looking for. The closer they got to Idaho, the worse this idea sounded. How exactly had Sam talked him into this? Oh right, those goddamn puppy dog eyes. After 30 years, Dean should be immune to those damn eyes.

"We'll see," was the only response from Sam and the Impala was plunged back into silence.

Dean was glad Fairfield was a lot closer than Sacramento had been to Sioux Falls. They had agreed to just drive straight through the night. An hour or two before they hit Route 93, Dean pulled over to the side of the road. He walked over to the passenger's side of the car.

"You're turn Sammy," Dean ordered and Sam got out of the car without protest. Dean just stood there with the door open.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked as he slammed the driver's side door.

"I want the back so I can sleep. I don't know how you fall asleep up front, dude," Dean answered.

"Oh," Lexi realized that was her cue to hop out of the back.

Dean sprawled out as much as he could in the backseat while Lexi buckled in up front. Sometime over the next 20 minutes or so, Dean had started snoring. Despite Dean's driver picks the music rule, Sam never changed the music while Dean was awake. Now that his older brother was asleep, he turned off the cassette player and tuned into the radio. Sam and Lexi soon learned that Northern Nevada was no place for decent music.

"No wonder Dean brings music with him," Sam said as he accepted that every station was static or country.

"Ooh!" Lexi squeaked as Sam passed over a song he'd never heard before. He grinned and switched back to the station it was on.

"Do you like this song?" Sam asked, his eyes on the road.

"Oh, do I!" Lexi giggled at her own joke, though Sam didn't get it until the chorus of the song. Obviously the melodramatic twangy tune was called 'Do I?' She sang along quietly and tried to keep her eyes off Sam. Her cheeks flushed a sudden shade of red.

Sam's eyes glanced over at her, "What?"

"I-mm, nothing," Lexi answered him quickly.

"Bullshit. What is it?" Sam pushed, a grin manifesting on his face.

"Well I just, mm, I don't know. You're just… I mean, I'm just…You're like…I just can't believe I get to do this to you," Lexi said hurriedly before leaning over and kissing Sam on the cheek.

He laughed at how shy she was. Of course he had to keep in mind that she was probably that shy because she was only 16. Sam suppressed a groan as it was once again brought to the forefront of his mind that the brothers Winchester were; well, technically… kind of pedophiles.

"This is so wrong," Sam mumbled, disheartened.

"What?"

"You're ten years younger than me,"

"And I'm fourteen years younger than Dean,"

"Lexi… don't remind me,"

"Can I remind you that I'll be seventeen in two weeks?" She asked hopefully.

This time Sam couldn't help but groan just a little. He couldn't help the thoughts that flooded his mind right then either, but he kept those to himself. "Yeah that makes me feel… a little better…Actually, not really."

Lexi giggled at the floppy haired, slightly tormented Winchester next to her. She yawned; she hadn't slept the entire time they had been driving. Sam reached over and put his arm around her. She leaned in closer to him and he kissed the top of her head.

"If you want to sleep for awhile, go ahead," Sam said, unable to fight the smile on his lips.

"Mmkay," Lexi agreed rather unintelligibly before falling asleep to the sound of Dean's snoring.

* * *

"Lex," Sam whispered, shaking her gently before turning to the backseat. "Dean."

His two passengers slowly, and with some strange mumbling, woke up. They both looked lost, trying to discern where they were. The sun was practically up when Sam had pulled into a motel parking lot in Fairfield, Idaho. He turned off the ignition and passed the keys back to Dean. The two heavy-eyed passengers got out of the car without so much as a word and grabbed their bags out of the trunk. Sam followed them around the back of the car and took his bags out as well before heading for the entrance.

"So, we only need two beds now right?" Dean said, a wolfish grin on his face.

Lexi blushed and Sam shot him a sour look. Neither of them answered Dean, so he just laughed at his own joke.

"You know what kinda looks we're gonna get-" But Dean cut himself off when Sam opened the lobby door. The receptionist was a large, somewhat sweaty, man in his late twenties. "Nevermind, you'll probably get a high five from this prize piece of art," Dean muttered, his not-so-inner smartass shining brightly.

Sam gave Dean another scowl before booking their party a room with two beds for the entire day and the evening. He handed Dean and Lexi each a key before leading the way to their room. Lexi's eyes were barely open as she dragged along behind Sam and Dean. She bumped into both of them a few times before they made it to their room. Sam slid the card key in the slot a few times before the little green light finally flashed and they all tumbled into the room. Lexi tossed her bag on the floor nearest the closest bed and belly flopped onto the green and pink floral print comforter.

Dean took the other bed, doing much the same as Lexi, except his bag made it to the table in the corner before he crawled onto the full size bed. Sam set his bag on the dresser just as there was a knock at the door. Lexi rolled over and started heading for the door.

"Wait," Sam whispered.

"Housekeeping, sorry, we didn't get clean towels in there before you checked in," A female voice called from the other side of the door.

Lexi stood on her tiptoes to look out the peephole.

And screamed just as the door splintered and flew open.


	13. Chapter 13

**Fairfield, Idaho**

For what may have been the first time in her life, Lexi missed getting knocked out. So far when demons came around, she was unconscious for the majority of it. She had to say, she enjoyed that a lot more than being fully aware of the situation she was in.

When the door was, she assumed, kicked in she had been slammed into the wall, her head bouncing off the plaster, leaving a fissure in it, under which concrete could be seen. She could feel the scrapes on her elbows already leaking blood and the throbbing at the base of her skull only seemed to keep increasing. She slid down the wall slowly, her head rolling to the side, eyes fixing on Sam. As he went for his duffle bag, presumably full of shotguns, he froze. The veins in his neck bulged out as he was thrown against the back wall.

Dean barely had time to jump to his feet before he was smashed into the bedside table and pinned to the wall by an invisible force. He made a small gurgling noise before fixing one of the intruders with a burning stare, "You are so going down bitch."

Lexi's eyes slowly swung to see whom he was talking to. There was a tall, lanky redhead just inside the doorway. She kicked the door shut, but it wouldn't latch. Her hands were out in front of her. One hand open, flat palm facing Dean. The other fist she kept clenched in Sam's direction. Lexi blinked back the white lights flashing across her vision. The redhead, which Lexi would bet if she was facing her she'd see black eyes, was accompanied by a shorter raven-haired older woman, whose attention was fixed on Lexi.

"Oh Dean, Dean, Dean, there's really no need to get so worked up. We just want the girl and then we'll be on our way," The redhead said in a drawling husky voice.

Sam struggled against the demonic chokehold she had over him. The more he struggled the odder the colour of his face became.

"Grab the g-, hold on a second here," The redhead said, her heels clacking on the tile of the entryway. She made her way onto the carpet and over towards Sam. She smiled and loosened her power over him, just enough for him to breathe. Her possessed body was practically pressed up against him. She inhaled a long deep breath. "You… you smell like the scorched wasteland."

Sam did his best to pull away with his back against the wall. Lexi wished she could keep her mind inside of her head, instead of floating off into space. The world seemed far off and she felt slow as a snail from bashing her head on the wall. But she still took note that Dean was slowly fighting off the demon's hold on him. Both the demon and Lexi were losing focus.

"Madam," The other demon, the one that clearly wasn't running the show, piped up.

"Silence!" The redhead commanded as she nuzzled her face against Sam's neck. She trailed her tongue up Sam's neck before forcing her lips on to his. Sam gave his best effort to fight her off, but considering the uselessness of his body at that point, it didn't do much good.

"And you taste like fire. You are meant for…" The younger of the two demons continued. "Oh yes, you are a little morsel aren't you?"

It was right about then that Dean finally pulled himself off the wall and fell to his feet. "You put him down you-," But Dean didn't get a chance to finish his insult.

The redheaded woman turned and sent Dean flying back to where he was again. Lexi could see the black pits she had for eyes. Sam's face started to darken again; he wasn't getting much oxygen anymore.

"Dean, if you don't stay up against that fucking wall, I'll end you both and then take her with me. Which is really for the best, she's not looking so hot right now," The demon said, switching everyone's attention to Lexi.

It was true; she wasn't looking too good. She resembled a broken doll in a heap on the floor. Her legs were bent out to the sides and her arms hung limp and bloody. Her eyes looked like they were ready to roll back into her head at any minute. She was fighting for consciousness.

"Lexi!" Sam struggled against the demon again, which was really only making it harder for him to breathe. And these demons apparently found it very antagonizing because the more the boys struggled; the tighter the grip on them grew. Despite the haze settling in her head, Lexi could tell she wasn't the only one fighting to stay awake.

"Let him… Let them go," Lexi muttered, seemingly to no one, she couldn't keep her focus on anyone in the room.

"Why should I? Pesky hunters, they're starting to annoy me, even if one of them is His Vessel," The demon responded.

"If you don't…If you…I will…" Lexi tried to form a coherent threat. Unfortunately she didn't have much experience with threatening anyone and she didn't feel like she had too many functioning brain cells at the moment either.

"You'll what?" She asked, clenching both fists tightly. Dean started gasping for air. Sam was turning an unpleasant shade of purple.

The feeling in Lexi's appendages slowly began to return to her, and she wished it hadn't. From the back of her head to the base of her spine was pure pain. Besides the after effects of being thrown into a wall, she felt fire on her skin. Her blood started pumping quicker when her eyes shifted from Dean to Sam.

"No," Lexi whispered.

"Oh, you gonna glow at me?" The red headed demon cackled.

The darker haired woman, eyes black as pits, sniffed. She caught a whiff of something she had never smelled before: something reminiscent of kerosene and alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and gasoline. "Oh shit," she muttered before tearing the front door open and bolting out of it.

Sam's eyes started to roll back as Lexi lifted her hand; her fingers curled under like claws. The heat under her skin and her luminescence subsided as burning white light exploded in front of her. Sam and Dean fell to the ground, landing unceremoniously on their knees. The battered elemental in the corner closed her fist and the prismatic white light seemed to collapse in on itself before it could stretch much beyond where the demon used to be.

Most of the room was scorched, and a good portion in the middle was spattered with blood. All that remained of the demon, and the woman she had possessed, was two fingers, index and middle, and a foot lying in the middle of the room.

Sam gasped for air before speaking, "Did you just… was that… she's gone."

"What the hell did you just do?" Dean asked, massaging his throat.

"I…it was… going to… umm…explode so I… uh… I made it… ya know, im-implode," Lexi said incoherently, her eyes fluttering shut.

"What?" Dean asked again as he rose to his feet.

"Instead of supernova, it went black hole," Sam both elaborated and simplified for his brother.

Lexi's world, once again, went dark.

* * *

Lexi opened her eyes but quickly slammed them shut. The throbbing in her skull only grew worse when she looked at the light above her. Something cold and hard was under her head and her elbows felt tight, restricted.

"What…hello?" Lexi muttered without opening her eyes.

"Lex! You're awake how do you feel?" Sam's voice grew closer as he spoke.

She rolled towards Sam and realized she was in bed, "Um, I feel like I've had the daylight beaten out of me."

"How's your head?" Sam asked, laying the back of his hand across her forehead, as if she'd have a fever.

"Pounding," Lexi moaned, "Could you turn off the light please?"

Sam stood up and flicked the light switch down. He could just barely see by the light of a bedside lamp. "Better?"

Lexi opened her eyes and looked around the dim room. "Much, thank you," She responded.

The curtains were drawn, but through the gap she could see orange light seeping in from the sunset. She had slept through the entire day. She sat up slowly and saw that the cold thing that had been under her head was an icepack. Her arms were wrapped tightly with gauze but her back ached like nothing she had ever known.

"Sam… my back…" She whimpered.

"Let me look," Sam managed to fit behind her on the bed and lifted up her shirt. Her back was practically a solid purple, blue, and in some parts, black mass. "Yeah…God Lex, this is why we didn't want to bring you, you got hurt and we haven't even been here for a day."

"It can't be that bad…" Lexi whimpered, even though she sort of wanted to rip her own spine out at the moment.

"It's bruised, massively," Sam answered before getting off the bed and walking into the bathroom. He returned to her bedside with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. "Take these."

Lexi popped three aspirin in her mouth followed by a few swigs of water. "So where's Dean?"

"He followed the demon that took off, came back when he found where they were hiding. He just left a little while ago to stock up on salt and rounds and hopefully holy water too. Next time I tell you to wait before you answer the door, wait," Sam almost sounded angry.

"I'm sorry I didn't… I wasn't gonna open it, I was just looking…" Lexi looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"I know, and they would have come in anyway. I just… You're hurt and we can't just leave you here by yourself. When Dean gets back… the three of us are going to have to go hun these demons. He said there were still two people left alive, we have to move fast," Sam explained hesitantly.

"I'm… going with you? Right into the demon's lair?" Lexi asked, astounded.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Sam moved his hand over hers and squeezed.

"I-I just… I mean, I'm scared," Lexi admitted.

"You'd be insane if you weren't, but we'll protect you, Lex," Sam leaned in, fighting the urge to put his arms around her, and kissed her gently.

Lexi smiled and gave a small laugh, "I'll watch your back too."

"Seriously Sam? The girl looks like Chris Brown's ex-girlfriend, and you're still trying to lay the mack down. Let her rest, geez," Dean said as he shut the door behind him. It still wouldn't latch so he shoved a chair in front of it.

Lexi blushed as Sam pulled away and went to look at what his brother had brought back. They set to work opening the rounds and reloading them with rock salt. Dean looked over to Lexi.

"How you feeling?" He asked, trying to sound unconcerned.

"Mm, I'll be alright," She responded.

"Can you get up?" Dean questioned.

Lexi pushed the covers back and slid her feet to the floor. Yes, her back was stiff as a board and her head was throbbing and she couldn't much bend her arms, but she could stand and she could walk. She was accustomed to pushing past the pain.

"Here," Dean handed her a rosary and empty flasks.

"What do you want me to do?" Lexi looked a bit dumbfounded.

"Um," Sam said as he flipped through the pages in a worn, old, unorganized notebook. He stopped on a page with instructions of some kind. "Here, take this, fill the bathtub up with water, follow the instructions in here. You're making holy water."

"Really? In a bathtub?" Lexi asked, looking at the rosary in disbelief.

"With a rosary," Dean added, as if that made the process sanctimonious. Well, apparently it did.

"Okie dokie," Lexi responded before shuffling into the bathroom. She left the door open and turned on the faucet. "Um, does it matter if the water is hot or cold?" She called to the Winchesters.

Sam just smiled but Dean rolled his eyes and called back to her, "No!"

She sighed and sat on the edge of the tub waiting for it to fill up enough to fill the six flasks Dean had given her. She read over the instructions, jumping a little when she heard one of the boys pumping his shotgun. That sent a wave of pain up her back. "Oh this is gonna suck," She mumbled.

She turned the tub off and dropped the rosary into the water. She read over the Latin she was supposed to say and though she couldn't understand it, she thought she could pronounce it.

"Latin's not too shabby," Dean commented as he heard Lexi muttering from the bathroom.

"Yeah, it's like she's a natural," Sam commented, fear settling in him. How many people had they tried to keep safe from their world? How hard had they fought to keep up the illusion that nothing was hiding in the shadows, waiting to pop out and scream "ooga booga?" And here they were, teaching this sixteen-year-old girl how to make holy water, to throw at the demons she shouldn't know existed. Some days Sam wished he'd never been exposed to the dark side of the world, and yet her he was, pulling back the veil on yet another innocent kid.

"Sarcalogos has videor in Jordan sanctifico aequora," Lexi said, finishing the chant. "So… is that it?"

"Just bottle it up Lex," Dean called back as he filled his duffle bag with salt and shotguns, thinking about how handy it would be if they went and bought a set of iron fire pokers.

Lexi dunked the flasks into the tub of holy water, screwing the cap back on each of them before filling up the next one. "So, should I just let the rest drain out or…" Lexi trailed off. Could holy water go down the drain? Would it clean the pipes? Would it be sacrilegious to let holy water be disposed of in the sewer?

"Ah, just leave it filled up for now," Sam answered, "I guess you never know when it'll come in handy."

Lexi hobbled back out of the bathroom and set her holy flasks on the table in front of the boys. Her movements were stiff but she found the more she moved the less it hurt. Dean grabbed one of the flasks and tucked it in his coat, sticking the other in his duffle bag. Sam did just about the same, but he put two in his bag instead of one. That left one more flask sitting on the table.

"What about that one?" Lexi asked.

Neither Sam nor Dean answered her, instead Sam just picked up the flask and held it out to her.

"What? Me? What do I do with it?" Lexi asked, confusion written all over her face.

"If a demon gets close, throw it on them, and here," Dean answered her, pulling a Remington 870 pump shotgun that he had cut down himself, "Take this too."

Lexi's eyes popped when she saw the small, well for a shotgun, firearm. She had never so much as touched a gun, let alone used one. "I-I don't think I can. The last thing I need is more fire power."

Dean looked to Sam, giving him a 'this is a horrible idea' look before sticking the shotgun back in his duffle bag. He sighed and pulled out the knife that they still referred to as Ruby's knife. "So take this then. It's the only knife that can actually kill a demon."

"Um o-okay," Lexi said, taking the knife and sheath, looking dumbstruck at it.

"Here," Sam took it from her and strapped the sheathe around her waist. "It's kind of cold out there, wear this too," He offered her a dark blue hooded sweatshirt.

Lexi pulled the sweatshirt on gratefully. Idaho was much colder than California. And it went almost down to her knees, so it kept the knife out of view. She tucked the flask of holy water into the front pouch pocket of the hoodie and looked up at Sam.

"Oh, pull your sleeve up," Sam said as he snatched a sharpie off the table. He drew a warding cross on her left forearm and a protection sigil on her right. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Lexi responded, standing on her toes to give Sam what was hopefully not her last kiss.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note/Apology:: Sorry it took me so long! I got a new job and I'm getting my license back and I turned 21 and I had to catch up on all of season 5 and I'm trying to get registered for school and I'm sorry I've been so busy! I will try to update again as soon as I can!

* * *

**Fairfield Sanitarium**

"Seriously, you two are sickening," Dean chided, disgusted as his little brother kissed Lexi on top of the head when she got out of the Impala.

"I know," Sam responded, making it fully apparent that he did not care.

"Sorry," Lexi whimpered, her eyes down cast.

"Just, knock it off," Dean ordered as he propped open the trunk of his inexplicably gorgeous muscle car with a shotgun. With one fluid motion he pulled Sam's bag out of the trunk and tossed it to him. He slung his own duffle over his shoulder. Normally he would have given their tag-a-long a duffle bag too, but she was useless when it came to heavy lifting, so he gave her a flashlight instead. "Man the flashlight."

"Yes sir," Lexi said, coming from anyone else it would have sounded sarcastic, but she seemed quite serious.

"And be quiet," Dean continued with his orders.

"Of course sir," Lexi answered respectfully again.

"And stop calling me sir," Dean managed to bark in a hushed voice.

"Yes… um Dean," Lexi blushed.

"Stay behind me," Sam added, sounding more than a little worried.

"Ok," Lexi acquiesced again. She was glad she didn't have to carry anything heavy. Her back was still aching, though the throbbing in her head had gone down thanks to an amazing invention known as aspirin. She slowly bent and straightened her arms, feeling out the stiffness in her elbows. She wondered briefly why she was so beat up when Sam and Dean seemed just fine. Then again, they were pretty much awesome… and she guessed they were used to getting thrown around by demons.

Dean heaved a sigh as he looked up at the dark dilapidated insane asylum in front of them. He was getting really fed up with skulking around ramshackle old buildings that looked like they would cave in at any minute. Couldn't, just once, the demons hole up in the playboy mansion? Would that be so hard to do? It seemed like their type of place after all.

Sam on the other hand, knew that the Fairfield Sanitarium was shut down in 1931 due to lack of funds, mostly thanks to the depression. He wondered momentarily what had happened to its residents and even felt sorry for them a little. Sam also knew, thanks to Dean for once, that there were four demons in there, lacking a ring leader, and two basically innocent teenagers. One was guaranteed to be an elemental, most likely a replacement for Michael, and the other was a sibling. Both of the Winchesters also knew that their best bet for an entry point was a busted in window around the other side of the hospital. The window was, luckily enough, on the ground floor and big enough for Dean and Lexi to get in, guaranteed, probably Sam too. Dean was thorough when he scouted the place, and aside from breaking down a door, it was their best chance of getting in, so Sasquatch would just have to think small and squeeze on in.

Dean slid the shotgun that was propping his trunk open into his awaiting duffle bag before shutting the trunk. He signaled for Sam and Lexi to follow him as he made a wide circle around the building, working his way towards the back. Sam fell in step easily; the marine-based training their father had put them through had paid off. Skulking around in the night came as easily and efficiently to the Winchester boys as riding a bike was to most people.

Lexi on the other hand was doing her best to be quiet, which ended up distracting her from where she was going, so there was a lot of tripping. And every time she tripped she would impulsively apologize. Dean was forced to tell her to shut the hell up at least three times before she finally stopped apologizing.

"Ok seriously, Lex, no talking once we're inside," Dean said as he brushed broken glass off the windowsill. He put his hand on the frame and vaulted in, making it look easy.

Lexi stood there, dumbfounded, looking from the window to the ground repeatedly. She opened her mouth to utter something but shut it quickly, heeding Captain Dean's orders. Before she knew what was happening her feet were off the ground and she was rising higher. She pulled her legs up as she was lifted over the windowsill. After clearing the window she stretched until her feet were firmly planted on the floor inside. She turned around just in time to see Sam vault through the window with only slightly less ease than Dean.

Sam moved past Lexi as Dean raised his hand in a signal to move forward. He would have been surprised that there weren't any demons on the first floor, but Dean was fairly certain that they, or rather Lexi, had cut the head off the snake. The demons that were left here didn't know what to do without their leader. _Demons are fucking morons,_ Dean thought to himself as he rounded a corner that put him in front of the stairway to the basement. Sam automatically moved to cover the other side of the double doorway leading to the stairs. Dean held his arm out in front of Lexi, as if to restrain her and protect her simultaneously.

After the brothers peered through the dark, cracked glass of the small windows set in the double doors they exchanged one of those nods they had. One that said more than anyone who wasn't a Winchester could understand. Dean set his bag down quietly and pulled out two cans of spray paint, tossing one to Sam. Faster than Lexi would have thought possible they painted a huge circle, spanning the length of the door, with a star inside and some weird squiggles. Once they replaced the aerosols of paint back in their duffle bags they exchanged another one of those telepathic nods and Dean kicked one of the doors, now swinging thanks to rust and broken latches, open. Sam ducked away behind the corner and Dean did the same, pushing Lexi back up against the wall.

Lexi was about to ask him what they were doing, but of course, she wasn't supposed to talk, so she kept her mouth shut. Sure enough, not a minute later they heard steps on the stairs. Dean handed Lexi his bag as the footsteps approached the top of the stairs. She took it but didn't hold on very long; the weight of it made her elbows protest in pain so she set it down quietly next to her right as the door started to open. Dean was gone in a flash. Lexi peeked around the corner carefully. There was a scrawny man, maybe twenty-five years old with shaggy blonde hair, and Dean had his hand over the demon's mouth and his arm around the demon, restraining it.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas," Sam started muttering. The more he spoke, the more the demon writhed, until, eventually, Dean let go. Right as the eldest Winchester's hand uncovered the possessed man's mouth black smoke flew out of him, up to the ceiling. As if on cue they heard more footsteps, faster and greater in number this time.

"Lexi get back!" Sam hollered as he burst through the door, already firing at someone, no, something Lexi corrected herself.

Dean was not far behind him, running down the stairs unloading on the two demons that were heading up the stairs.

"Oh shit," Lexi heard Dean mutter under his breath.

"Lexi, KNIFE!" Sam called with a little more wit than Dean had.

"Oh …shit…" Lexi repeated as she fumbled for the knife strapped around her waist. She yanked it out of the sheath and tossed it in Sam's general direction. "Oh shit!" She whimpered loudly and darted out of the doorway, afraid to watch.

Though she couldn't see it, Dean's eyes nearly popped out of his head as the knife sunk into the demon's shoulder. "Nice," he commented before Sam yanked the blade out and slashed it across the demon's throat. With a flicker like a light bulb going out, the demon fell backwards down the stairs.

"Sam, go!" Dean hollered to his brother, Lexi wasn't completely sure as to why. But, passing Ruby's knife to his older brother, Sam complied.

From the top of the stairs Lexi peaked down in time to see Dean drive the knife home, right into the second demon's heart. Lexi couldn't help but to notice the dark green lifeless eyes as the older man, maybe mid-30s, fell back, dead. She thought it sort of looked like he had swallowed a bug zapper as he fell. The way he lit up, she could see his skeletal structure and it made her shudder. But she swallowed her disgust and, snagging Dean's duffle bag, she darted down the stairs with all the grace she had learned as a child. She tried to follow Dean as he searched the rather expansive basement for Sam, but she kept losing sight of him. Dean burst into empty rooms that looked like abandoned operating rooms. There was even a door that led to nowhere. This place was, outside of the demons, fucking creepy on it's own.

Kicking in a set of double doors that led to, what Dean could only guess was, an old cafeteria; he found his brother. And, go figure, Sammy was caught in a demonic chokehold…again. Why was he ALWAYS getting choked? Dean rolled his eyes as he uncapped a flask of holy water. That was about when he noticed the other person, well the other living person, present in the room. While most of the room was strewn with old rotting tables; the middle was mostly empty, tables upturned and tossed aside. Instead in the middle there was one lone chair. A girl, probably a few years older than Lexi, was tied to it with dark black bindings that were made of…something. Dean didn't get a decent look before hurling holy water all over the black-eyed woman in the room. Sam gasped for air when the demon's hold on him broke, seconds before Lexi burst into the room.

"Oh goddamnit," Dean bellowed as Lexi entered the room. He thought she knew to hang back.

"Nice try Winchester," The blonde haired woman spoke before flicking her wrist, sending Dean flying backwards. "Oh and you've brought me just what I need for our little ritual."

"I ..um… oh...," The words got caught in Lexi's throat before she turned around and ran right back out the doors she came in through.

Dropping Sam and Dean, the demon whirled around and followed in Lexi's footsteps. Sam spent a second trying to breathe before he got to his feet.

"Motherfucker!" The Winchester's heard the howl from the other side of the doors. Dean was the first out the door though Sam wasn't far behind him.

When Sam pushed the double doors open he wasn't entirely sure how to react. He stepped back so he wouldn't run into Dean who was standing just on the other side, and was he laughing? Directly in front of Dean was the black-eyed blonde-haired demon they had been chasing. Not three feet away from the demon Lexi was looking very proud of herself.

"You're a quick one Lex," Dean said with a grin as Sam finally realized what was going on.

Next to Lexi on the ground was Dean's bag, wide open, a spray can of paint sitting right on top. Sam turned his gaze from her to the floor under the demon. In a messier scrawl than either Sam or Dean had ever seen work was a Devil's Trap on the ground in bright red.

"Did you…?" Sam was astounded.

"Yeah, you've been drawing them everywhere, it wasn't too hard to remember," Lexi answered with a blush.

"Wow, Lex…Nice job," Sam complimented her, his eloquence still out of reach.

"We'll congratulate your girlfriend later Sam, right now we have a demon to deal with," Dean chimed in sensibly. "So," His focus shifted to the imprisoned demon in front of him, "What sort of ritual were you talking about?" Dean couldn't help but think to himself that this girl would be sort of cute if she wasn't all black-eyed and murderous.

"Why would I tell you?" The demon spat back at him.

Dean sighed and pulled Ruby's knife out of the inside of his jacket, "Because if you don't, I'll have to use this."

"Oh no, a knife, I'm so _fucking_ scared," She rolled her black eyes just before Dean quickly drew the blade across her forearm. The wound sparked and flickered just like the other demons had.

"Oh, I uh,… yeah," Lexi muttered almost inaudibly before weaving past Sam and Dean back into the cafeteria.

"Um, sorry about all this. Hi. My name is Lexi, that was Sam and Dean, we're here to save you, or kill demons or both, I don't know," Lexi said as she made her way to the girl in the middle of the room; she couldn't have been older than twenty.

"H-hi, I-I'm M-Mary," The girl whimpered. Her cheeks were tear stained and her arms were covered in dried blood. Lexi couldn't help but suppress a shudder as she got closer, remembering what it felt like to be in Mary's shoes. She had dark eyes and a deep brown skin tone. Her hair, though normally would have looked like fine black silk, was tangled and matted. Lexi thought she looked Native American.

"How long have you been here Mary?" Lexi asked as she moved behind the chair and started working at the knots in the familiar black bindings.

"I-I'm not sure, I think only a day or two. H-Have y-you seen my family?" Mary asked, her watery eyes filled with hope.

"Not yet, we haven't looked everywhere though," Lexi yanked a knot out of the black bindings on Mary's hands. "Do…do you know what this is? This rope? They used the same kind on me…"

"They took you too? How did you get out?" Mary asked through her sniffling.

"Sam and Dean saved me too," Lexi answered as she pulled another knot out of the binding.

"Thank God for them then. No…I don't know what it is but I know that it suppresses me…my abilities, otherwise I would have lit those fuckers up," Mary practically snarled.

"Yeah… I know the feeling," Lexi pulled the bindings off Mary's hands and started to work at the knots around her ankles when they heard an unearthly scream that sent shivers up Lexi's back.

The Winchester boys sauntered back into the room sans demon.

"Yeah, the demon, all taken care of, thanks for asking. And I think I got the gist of the ritual they want to perform too," Dean announced before he took his knife to the bindings still left on Mary.

"Yeah, some kind of conversion ritual," Sam elaborated a little before turning his attention to the recently freed captive. "Are you alright? Do you need a hospital?"

"I'm fine, just a little beat up. I need to find my brother. I know he's here somewhere. I-I…" Mary's eyes swiveled to the floor and didn't move.

"Don't worry we'll find him," Dean said, his voice full of confidence and hope. Only Sam could tell he was just putting on a show for the sake of this girl. Truth be told, they were all worried about finding her little brother.

"He's close, I could hear him," Mary finally said, moving past the Winchesters and out the double doors. "Tommy! Tommy! It's me, can you hear me?" Mary called loudly.

"Mary?" A weak response came from a few doors down the hall. The boys quickly bolted past Mary who brought up the rear with Lexi.

Dean turned the knob on an old office door but it wouldn't budge. From the other side they could hear Tommy calling for his older sister. Dean stood back before driving his boot into the door just under the handle, it splintered and gave way easily. Mary's torn up legs suddenly seemed to work again because she bolted between the two Winchesters and was at her brother's side before anyone really registered her moving.

"Oh thank god you're okay Tommy!" Mary gasped as she hugged her bound brother before taking a step back. The ropes on her kid sibling weren't black like the ones used on her. She touched her finger to the one wrapped around his right ankle and small flames jumped from her fingertips, incinerating the ropes before going out all on their own. She repeated this with each one of the bindings on him.

Tommy, who had to be about ten, leapt to his feet and threw his arms around his big sister once he was free. "Where's Mom and Dad?" Tommy asked eagerly.

"I um…I haven't seen them. I think we should go stay with Uncle Max on the reservation for awhile," Mary told her little brother. His eyes seemed to lit up at the mention of his uncle. "Can we please get the fuck out of here?" Mary asked, her attention turned to the Winchesters.

"I was just thinking that," Dean responded

* * *

Mary and Tommy hopped out of Dean's Impala and launched themselves through their uncle's front door. Thankfully Mary's relatives were already aware of her abilities. In fact her uncle and his wife were the ones who helped train her powers, which was why she had control over them. The siblings mourned the loss of their parents, but they still had family.

Once the two were inside with the intimidating looking Uncle Max, Dean pulled off, realizing that he had quite a drive in front of him. They were at least a hundred miles from their motel. Lexi yawned, despite sleeping all day she was still exhausted.

"So this ritual," Sam started when he realized no one else was going to bring it up. "If the demons gather one of each of the six elements, they can um… sort of suck the magick out of them."

"What?" Lexi's eyes opened fully at this.

"Yeah, there's this demonic ritual that will actually kill all six of the kids involved and put the powers of one of them into whoever performs the ritual," Dean elaborated.

"And if that demon was telling the truth, which it sounds like she was, they intended to take the powers out of a shadow elemental," Sam continued.

Lexi however, looked rather clueless, she had no idea what they were trying to tell her, "Um… oooookaaay."

"They were going to kill six kids like you so they could manipulate umm… six more kids like you. They wanted to use you like weapons but they couldn't get anyone to cooperate so they had to find a way to make you, by manipulating the darker emotions in you… I think," Dean explained, trying not to sound too intelligent, that was Sam's gig.

"I mean, we've seen how strong you are, and Mary was so precise, if they had six of you at their disposal, it'd be a wrecking crew," Sam said.

"Ok, but they're dead, so we won right?" Lexi asked, hopeful.

"No, those demons we killed were just working for someone with a higher pay grade," Dean answered her.

"So now what do we do?" Lexi questioned.

"Ugh, we get some sleep," Sam told her, his eyes shut though he was still awake.

"Then we go to Texas," Dean said with a hungry smile.


End file.
